The women's field hockey team walked off the field last night soaking wet, freezing cold, and happy. It had good reason too. The Cavaliers dominated in their game against Radford, where they maintained control of the ball almost the entire game and ended up winning 3-0 despite the pouring rain and low temperature.
Virginia started the game off aggressively, scoring within the first 10 minutes, when a penalty shot hit by Katie Jo Gerfen reached the stick of Biffy Cornelison, who promptly shot it into the goal.Radford took possession of the ball for about 10 minutes after that, before the Cavaliers took it back and kept it for the rest of the first half, and virtually the whole game after that.
In the second half, what had previously only been menacing clouds turned into a full on downpour. However, that didn't deter the Cavaliers. As spray rose up from the field every time sticks hit the ground or a ball landed particularly hard, Virginia pushed on.Getting an early start on offense once again, the Cavaliers scored five minutes into the second half, when Megan Ponessa intercepted a pass from Radford, forcing the Highlanders' goalie to leave the cage and opening up the opportunity to score. Virginia followed this goal with the last score of the game, a beautiful shot by Mia Link to the left hand corner of the cage, which the Radford goalie dove for, but to no avail, bringing the game to its final score of 3-0 and giving the Cavaliers their third win in a row.
The Cavaliers maintained absolute control of the game throughout its duration, due in large part to their teamwork and almost flawless passing. The Cavaliers maintained almost total possession of the ball, which rarely touched Virginia's side, and more often than not, had players clustered around Radford's goal waiting for the opportunity to score. In addition, the Cavaliers had five penalty shots in the first half of the game -- one of which led to the first goal --- and six in the second, all while allowing none against themselves.
"I was particularly pleased with our defensive effort, not giving up a shot on goal or a corner," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said.
What seemed to make this control possible was the absolute cohesiveness of the team.All the players worked together, passing the ball around often and effectively with one player rarely holding onto the ball for any great length of time. Almost anytime the ball wandered onto Virginia's side of the field it was passed back up to where it again threatened Radfords goal."That's our strength as a team," sophomore Cornelison said. "We just pass together and work together up the field."
Throughout the entire game, including a downpour and falling temperatures that had spectators running for cover and blowing on their fingers for warmth, the Cavaliers maintained almost flawless teamwork and complete possession of the ball for the shutout and their third consecutive victory.
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