If you're thinking of leaving Charlottesville for fall break, the Virginia field hockey team has a good reason to stay in town.
Sunday, the No. 10 Cavaliers will host arguably their biggest game of the season when the No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons come to the University Hall Turf Field for the Cavs' final home game of the season at 1 p.m.
"It is huge," Virginia junior Jessica Coleman said. "We really want to end our home games with a bang."
The game also will be the last time three Cavalier seniors set foot on the Turf Field for a regular season game. Goalkeeper Becky Worthington, forward Lorraine Vizzuso and sweeper Julia Richardson will receive special recognition after establishing successful four-year careers at Virginia.
Before honoring the three seniors, however, the Cavs (10-5, 0-3 ACC) will first have to face the Deacons (13-2, 3-2). It will be a tough challenge, as Wake Forest is currently third in the nation in winning percentage (86.7 percent), fourth in scoring offense and sixth in scoring defense. The Demon Deacons are coming off an outstanding 8-0 rout of American University Sunday.
"We're expecting Wake Forest to come out hard and strong," Coleman said. "They have a lot of excellent players on their team and they just play excellent hockey. And athletically, they are really high caliber. We're going to get it from all angles."
Wake senior forward Jenny Everett is the team's leading scorer with 49 points (16 goals, 17 assists). She is also the nation's third-best scorer. Everett's career 169 points make her Wake Forest's all-time leading scorer.
The Cavaliers will not be intimidated, however, and they know what they need to do in order to pull an upset victory over the impressive Demon Deacons.
"We're going to be working on just our basic skills - passing the ball and seeing the pass before you receive the ball," Coleman said. "Defensively, we'll work on very basic things that we need to execute perfectly. That's what we need to do."
The Cavs also might get a lift from Senior Day, as they send off three of their best players and closest teammates.
"It definitely brings a certain emotion to the game and it will really help fire the team up," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said. "After the game, we're going to honor the seniors that have come into this program and have given four years of hard work and effort. They've just given an awful lot to the program."
In her four years at Virginia, Vizzuso, a co-captain, has racked up 93 points (37 goals, 19 assists) to establish herself as the seventh highest scorer in school history. She also ranks seventh all-time in career goals.
Worthington has collected 268 saves and 14 shutouts in her career, putting her in Virginia's top seven in all-time saves. In defending the Cavalier cage, Worthington has been assisted by Richardson, the Cavs' other captain, who has started every game in the last two seasons.
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