Despite their opponent's winless record so far this year, yesterday's matchup against the St. Francis Red Flash was an important one for the Virginia field hockey team.
Goalies Logan Carr and Katherine Blair combined for their second shutout in as many games as Virginia (9-7, 0-3 ACC) blanked the Red Flash 10-0 yesterday afternoon. Led by sophomore midfielder Katie Phillips's three goals, the Cavaliers dominated the first ever contest between these schools.
"The best part of the day was just building confidence, bringing everyone into play and people beginning to work off each other," sophomore back Sarah Miller said.
Looking to gain their first win of the season, St. Francis (0-14) entered the game searching for something positive to build on. They didn't find it here, as the Cavaliers scored early and scored late on their way to their most decisive victory of the season.
Senior back Katie Jo Gerfen struck first with a blast less than six minutes into the game on a pass from Miller. A half-hour later, the Red Flash headed into halftime already down five goals. The second period of play brought much of the same as Virginia's sophomore midfielder Allie Flynn scored barely 45 seconds into the half.
With 15 minutes left to play, St. Francis created their best scoring opportunity when a forward broke free and took the ball towards the Virginia net. But with senior back Shannon LaVigne close by, the Red Flash player was shut down by goalkeeper Blair who replaced Carr following halftime.
"I thought we had some very good moments today," coach Jessica Wilk said. "We were working the ball a little better on offense and we finished well. At times we were a little bit inconsistent on defense but that tends to happen when you are dominating on the attack."
Carr-for-Blair wasn't the only substitution made at halftime; Wilk chose to keep some of her other starters on the bench for the second half as well.
"We were definitely fortunate to be able to give some of our players more playing time today than they are used to seeing," Wilk said. "I was very pleased with the people that went in."
Looking toward next week, Virginia will face a Wake Forest team that is 12-1 on the season, 3-1 in conference play, and currently ranked No. 1 in the country. Although they will no doubt pose a large threat to the visiting Cavaliers, Wilk feels her team isn't far from being mentioned in the same breath as the Demon Deacons.
"I think consistency is the only thing that separates us from one of the top three of four teams in the country," Wilk said. "We have the potential, and we have the ability. But we have to consistently play up to our abilities and play as a unit."
No matter how the rest of the season fares, the Cavaliers will surely look back at the past two games as examples of what they have to do to be successful. With the ACC tournament held in Charlottesville Nov. 7-9, Virginia fans will be able to see their team measure themselves against the best the conference, and the country, has to offer.
Read More
West Coast woes strike again as men’s basketball gets hammered by Stanford
By Emory Huffman | 10 hours agoVirginia, once again in a lost season, looked aimless on the floor.
ISTVAN: Tony Bennett left Virginia in a hole
By Ben Istvan | 18 hours agoHis decision to retire doomed this men's basketball season.
