The motto of the Atlantic Coast Conference is "A Tradition of Excellence ... Then, Now and Always." Nowhere is that motto exhibited more clearly than in the strength of the six schools which have field hockey programs.
"For the past five or six years, clearly [the ACC] has been one of the top conferences in the country," Virginia coach Jess Wilk said. "I don't think you're going to find many conferences in any sport where, [teams ranked] one, two, three, four consistently, all year long, are from the same conference."
Wake Forest is ranked No. 1 in the country and is the three-time defending national champion.
The Demon Deacons travel to College Park Saturday to tangle with No. 2 Maryland. The Terps are 10-0, with five of those wins coming against teams currently in the top 20.
Checking in at third in the nation is North Carolina, which has logged seven victories to zero defeats thus far. UNC has taken down four teams in the top 20. The Tar Heels have allowed only one goal all year, giving them the No. 1 scoring defense in the country.
Tonight in Chapel Hill, an immovable object faces an unstoppable force when Carolina and No. 5 Duke match up. Duke has the best scoring offense in the ACC after piling up 26 goals in only seven games.
As a conference, the ACC has outscored the non-conference opposition a whopping 135-47 in 41 games en route to an aggregate record of 36-5. That translates to an average margin of victory of over two goals per game.
The NCAA Tournament was a veritable who's-who in the ACC in 2004, with five of the teams making the Tournament and Virginia narrowly missing an at-large bid. Additionally, three of the four teams in the Final Four hailed from the ACC.
Not to be forgotten is Virginia's opponent on Sunday, No. 18 ranked Boston College.
Though new to the ACC, the Eagles have held their own in the early going with their only losses coming to Maryland and previously ranked Boston University.
Last year, Virginia traveled to Boston and emerged with a 4-3 win. Now that the Eagles are a member of the ACC, the Cavaliers are more conscious of the need to repeat that performance.
"Boston College is a huge game for us," senior Biffy Cornielson said. "It's always back and forth, and it's always just a really exciting game. This year it's especially important for us [because] they're an ACC team."
Virginia comes into the game flying high after knocking off its second-ranked opponent in three games Wednesday night in Williamsburg.
The 1-0 win over William & Mary demonstrated the kind of development as a team that Wilk has been looking for all season.
"I think after [the games in] Chicago we realized that we needed to play with much more intensity," Cornielson said. "And between William & Mary and JMU, we've started playing with more emotion and just harder, and it's really paid off."
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