There is no denying the strength of ACC field hockey, but to find the best under-21 play in the world, you would have to travel about 5,000 miles south to Santiago, Chile.
Unfortunately, you are also two weeks late.
The BDO Hockey Junior World Cup recently finished with South Korea defending its title with a 1-0 win over Germany in the final.
The real story, though, was the resurgence of the long-dormant American team, led by Virginia's Mia Link and Katherine Blair.
The United States rallied to a seventh-place finish out of 16 teams, after finishing 14th in 2001. The team entered as the ninth seed.
They opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over traditional power England, with Blair manning the cage and Link starting at forward.
The next day, the team managed a tie with a Netherlands team that would go on to finish third overall. Blair started in goal again and held the top-scoring unit in the world to only two goals.
The Zimbabwean national team was no match for the United States, falling 14-0 Sept. 17.
Following the rout of Zimbabwe, the team posted a comeback victory against host Chile, knocking it off 3-1.
Sept. 21, just days after Virginia recovered from a late goal against James Madison to gut out a win, the United States was unable to do the same. Australia scored with 32 seconds remaining to win 1-0 and force the Americans into a must-win game against Spain the following day.
Down 4-2 to the Spaniards late in the game, the red, white and blue rallied back to tie the match at four. With time running down, the U.S. scrambled to get a shot off for the winning goal but was forced to settle for a tie.
It was the third time in the tournament the feisty Americans were able to score late and stave off a loss.
In the classification match, the United States took down South Africa 4-2 to earn seventh place overall.
Link got the team on the board just three minutes into the game, and the Americans led 3-1 at the half.
Link returned to Charlottesville very impressed with the play she saw in Chile.
"It was amazing -- the best competition in the world," Link said.
Blair, who faced some of the most dominant forwards in the world day in and day out, agreed with Link.
"I think it would be fair to say we saw players with skills that we've never seen in the United States," Blair said.
The two teammates were surprised at the level of fanfare that went along with the World Cup, noting that hundreds of people attended each event with dozens of kids hawking for autographs from any and all participants. With that in mind, Blair commented on how this will affect field hockey in the United States as a whole.
"It's a really special standard that we set now," Blair said. "It's something that hopefully will inspire the national team to step it up as well, and I hope it will change field hockey in the United States for the better for everybody at all levels."
Blair and Link said they hope to change Virginia field hockey in the short term by bringing back the underdog mentality that the American team thrived on.
"Any team can play with anybody on any given day," Blair said. "That's why the game is played."
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