The 12th-ranked Virginia field hockey team will attempt to build on its 5-2 record when it hosts the Richmond Spiders tonight at 7 p.m.
The Cavaliers will try to get a new winning streak underway, as they are coming off a 5-1 defeat Sunday to second-ranked North Carolina.
Virginia entered the game against the Tar Heels confident about its opportunity to pull off the upset, and the Cavaliers played like it early on.
"UNC is a traditionally good hockey team in which we, as U.Va., rise to the occasion," junior back Katie Joe Gerfen said. "We know if we play our game that we are capable of having the results that we want."
Sophomore midfielder Katie Phillips scored 17 minutes into the game to put the Cavaliers on top, but North Carolina responded with two seconds left in the first half to tie the game. The Tar Heels then pulled away in the second half, adding four more goals while holding the Cavaliers scoreless. Having played well during the first half, Virginia was disappointed about not sustaining that effort in the second half.
"I feel like we started to slack off, and fall away from the game plan sometime in the second half, and UNC really capitalized on this," Phillips said.
In addition to Phillips, other Cavaliers offered up good performances. Sophomore back Sarah Miller assisted on Phillips' goal, and junior goalie Logan Carr had a career-high 12 saves.
Despite Sunday's loss, Virginia remains upbeat and focused on Richmond.
"We need to really work on playing hard, playing as a team, and sticking to our game plan for the entire 70 minutes," Phillips said. "If we do that I really think we have it in us to upset some teams."
Virginia will have to deal with another challenging opponent in the 6-1 Spiders.Richmond is off to the best start in school history and is on a three-game winning streak.The Spiders are no stranger to playing ranked competition, having defeated 13th-ranked William & Mary and 15th-ranked Indiana earlier this season.
Thanks to Sunday's victory over Indiana, Richmond moved up four spots from 20th to 16th in this week's NFHCA poll. This is the highest ranking in the program's history, and the last time the Spiders were ranked this high was 1992, when they were No. 17.
The Cavaliers are well aware of the ability of their opponent, having fallen, 2-1, to the Spiders when the two teams met last season. That served as Richmond's first ever victory over Virginia.
"Richmond is going to come out and try to make an exclamation mark and beat us two years in a row," Gerfen said. "Richmond is a well respected team and will not be a break from an ACC team."
Virginia will try to slow down several talented Richmond players Wednesday. Freshman Inge van Bogerijen leads the team with five goals and has won a conference co-Rookie of the Week award this season. Sophomore Allie Howard has seven assists on the season, while sophomore goalie Michelle Swartz has saved 35 shots.
With a win tomorrow, Virginia would be able to go into the weekend on a positive note for Sunday's home matchup with Old Dominion. The Cavaliers plan on moving on from the North Carolina loss and concentrating on these next two games.
"The UNC game was really disappointing, but we have two tough games this week, so we need to take what we can from it and move on," Phillips said.
Phillips and her teammates clash with their up-and-coming in-state rival tonight at 7 p.m. at U-Hall Turf Field.
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