On a day when the field hockey team did not execute particularly well on offense or defense, a perfectly performed corner rescued the Cavaliers from Ohio in sudden death overtime.
After leading the entire game, Virginia (1-0) allowed two goals from the Bobcats (0-1) in the last 10 minutes of regulation, forcing the game into overtime with the score tied at 2-2.
With a little less than 2:30 remaining in sudden death, senior Cara Unterkofler entered the ball to sophomore Emily Beach, who stopped the ball and shuffled it to senior Kelli Hill.
Hill then powered a slap shot from the top of the circle past Ohio goalie Ashley Pitkin to give the Cavaliers a 3-2 victory.
Virginia seemingly had the game in hand from the start. Only 14:33 into the game, Hill scored on a botched corner to put Virginia ahead 1-0.
"The flyer [from Ohio] got a piece of it, and it just tipped behind her stick," Hill said. "I just happened to get the ball and put it in the corner. I saw that the goalie was a little high up, so I slid it left."
Rosemary Walker, a senior forward, scored the team's second goal of the day on a fast break with 24:39 remaining in regulation. That goal put the Cavs comfortably ahead at 2-0.
Virginia maintained that lead until Ohio's Elizabeth Unger scored on a corner and cut the Virginia lead in half.
The Cavaliers continued to push their offensive game and looked like they might tack on an insurance goal late in the game.
But a sloppy pass gave Ohio the ball, and the Bobcats moved the ball quickly ahead, beating Virginia downfield. Unger's second goal of the day, a slap shot from the left side of the goal, knotted the score at 2-2 with 44 seconds to play.
The Cavaliers failed to score on a corner as regulation time ran out, and as the Virginia players jogged or walked back to their team huddle, the Ohio players raced back to theirs, celebrating their last-minute comeback.
"Definitely there was a shift in momentum, but that's part of sports," Virginia Coach Jessica Wilk said. "You gain momentum, you lose it, gain it, lose it. You're always fighting to get it back and control the tempo of the game. I think our kids did a really good job of coming back in between regulation and overtime."
In overtime, the Cavaliers returned to their simple approach of passing well and controlling possession. The Cavaliers controlled the ball virtually all of the extra period. They worked the ball close to the Ohio goal, gained a corner and then put the Bobcats away on Hill's second goal of the game.
"We had the momentum, we were up 2-0, and the momentum changed and they tied it up," Hill said. "The overtime was something that we had to win."
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