The difference between the first and second halves of last night's field hockey game between Virginia and James Madison was night and day.
After a meager beginning, sophomore midfielder Allison Flynn led the Cavaliers' second half charge. Lighting up the scoreboard with two goals to help Virginia overcome a 1-0 first half deficit, Flynn set the tone for the Cavaliers to take a hard fought 3-2 victory over the Dukes.
In the first half, the Cavaliers played a step slow and the Dukes were able to capitalize. James Madison's sophomore midfielder Maureen Klingler notched the first goal of the game early on, scoring at the 29:40 minute mark. The Dukes outshot the Cavaliers in the first half six to four and cleanly moved the ball up and down the field.
However, the Virginia team that stepped onto the field in the second half came with aggression and turned a sluggish game into an intense slugfest.
At halftime, coach Jessica Wilk addressed Virginia's need to compete at a higher level in order to pressure James Madison's defense.
"We talked about getting the ball back into our attacking one-third of the field and trying to put pressure on the backfield," Wilk said.
Both the offense and the defense played with more intensity in the second half, as the Cavaliers scored three goals on six attempts and held the Dukes to only three shots despite the fact the Dukes had three corner opportunities.
Flynn started the second half scoring flurry for the Cavaliers, as she scored in front of the goal off a pass from sophomore midfielder Katie Phillips three minutes into the half.
Twelve minutes later, Flynn came up with an exciting second goal as she stole the ball in the James Madison backfield, created a one-on-one situation with Dukes' goalie Laura Herzler and flicked it into the back of the goal to give the Cavaliers a 2-1 advantage.
"In the second half we came to the ball more," Flynn said. "We were more aggressive overall around the ball."
After the Duke's junior forward Heidi Beck tied the game back up at two, Cavalier sophomore forward Biffy Cornelison tipped in a shot by senior defender Katie Jo Gerfen off a penalty corner to give the Cavaliers the 3-2 advantage they would keep until time expired.
In the second half the Cavaliers improved their transition from defense to offense.
"We came up with a lot of balls off the defenders' sticks and we were able to create offense off of that," sophomore midfielder Katie Phillips said.
Gerfen, instrumental all night in conducting the Cavaliers' defense, credited Virginia's success to the second half aggression they showed that was missing in the first half.
"We took more risks and had more transition opportunities," she said.
The Dukes, despite their 1-6 record, have competed at a high level this year and it showed last night. Five of their six losses have come at the hands of top 13 ranked teams.
"James Madison is always competitive," Gerfen said. "It's always a battle out there."
On Sunday Virginia opens up ACC conference play with a road trip to Chapel Hill to face the second ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.
"North Carolina has tremendous talent," coach Wilk said. "We expect a very, very tough game. We are not going to be able to turn the ball over against Carolina and expect to be on the winning side of the score board."
If the Cavaliers want to win Sunday's game they will need to display the same level of passion that shined through in the second half of last night's or will face a tough night in Chapel Hill.
Read More
West Coast woes strike again as men’s basketball gets hammered by Stanford
By Emory Huffman | 8 hours agoVirginia, once again in a lost season, looked aimless on the floor.
ISTVAN: Tony Bennett left Virginia in a hole
By Ben Istvan | 16 hours agoHis decision to retire doomed this men's basketball season.
