The University of Virginia field hockey team opened its weekend with an overtime loss against Central Michigan University Saturday.
The Central Michigan Chippewas (2-2) scored on a shot corner in the first half for the first point of the game. Junior Lindsay O'Bannon tied the match 1-1 at the 24:26 mark after an assist from junior Mia Link. Virginia and CMU remained tied throughout the second half.
Central Michigan managed only three shots and no short corners for the remainder of regulation. Still, the Cavaliers were unable to score. In overtime, CMU scored on its only shot to regain the lead. The Cavaliers led the game in shot corners 8-4 and shots 15-10, but were unable to claim victory.
"It was not one of our better performances all the way around," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said. "I don't think we played to our potential. We had the chance to put this game away and we didn't."
Sunday, the Cavaliers fell again to Northwestern in double overtime 4-3, for their third consecutive loss of the season.
Northwestern took an early lead, but senior Katie Phillips led the way for the Cavaliers, scoring two goals while the defense held the Wildcats scoreless for 56 minutes to send the game to overtime.
At about the 20-minute mark, the Wildcats took the lead off a broken corner, but the Cavaliers answered back with a goal by Link after Phillips was fouled, resulting in a shot corner. Less than a minute later, the Wildcats answered back with another goal, taking the 2-1 lead into halftime.
Northwestern scored early in the second half, putting the Wildcats up by two. Then, Phillips scored the first of her two goals on an assist from senior Sarah Miller. Soon after, the Cavaliers drew another shot corner, and Miller set up Phillips again to tie the game at 3-3.
Neither team was able to score in the first overtime. Junior Goalkeeper Katherine Blair denied Northwestern four times. In the second overtime, Virginia managed a shot corner, but could not produce a goal. NU then gained a shot corner, consequently scoring to end the game with a 4-3 victory.
The Cavaliers led in shots 25-15 and shot corners 11-10, but were unable to find victory in the contest. Following the game, Wilk was optimistic.
"I was really, really proud of the team," Wilk said. "There was sort of a turn-around from the Central Michigan game to the Northwestern game within 24 hours. They came out, played hard, played well. They were doing the things we were asking them to do. They played good hockey."
Despite playing "good hockey," Virginia's coach clearly would have preferred a different outcome.
"We didn't finish quite as well as we needed to, and we had some unfortunate things that were out of our control," Wilk said. "But I was really pleased with the performance, and I was frustrated that we didn't come out on the right side of the scoreboard."
The Cavaliers are looking forward to their next game against James Madison University.
"JMU is a big in-state rivalry, and we're looking forward to getting back at it and getting on the right side of the win column," Wilk said.
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