Even though it has been just six seasons since Jessica Wilk accepted the head coaching position at Virginia, she already has accumulated a long list of what most would consider a career's worth of coaching highlights. She has led the Cavaliers to victories over No. 1 ranked teams and has taken her team to the ACC and NCAA Tournaments on multiple occasions.
Wilk attributed this success to her ability to relate to the players.
"I can relate to them," Wilk said. "I can talk to them and help them understand that it is a process. If you look at some of the players who have excelled here, we've had a bunch of kids who have come in somewhat untouted and have gone on to make national teams."
Wilk's ability to understand the game from the players' perspective, however, isn't necessarily something that she has learned to do during her time as a coach. Instead, it probably originated when she was a player at Maryland.
"It [playing at Maryland] gives me a much better understanding of what the players are going through." Wilk said. "Not getting to play right away made me appreciative of getting to be out on the field and gave me a better team aspect."
Wilk walked on to the Terrapins' field hockey team as a freshman and started by the time she was a sophomore. She earned All-American honors during her final three seasons at Maryland and helped lead the Terps to the national title in 1987.
"I was fortunate enough that they gave me the opportunity to walk on," Wilk said. "My expectations were just going in and trying to learn as much as I could, be as competitive as I could and trying to get better as quickly as I could."
After her career as a player, Wilk came to Charlottesville to work as a full-time assistant coach under Missi Sanders, the 1998 Coach of the Year. In 1999, Wilk was given the head coaching position.
Wilk will look to improve on the Cavs' 8-6 record tonight when they face American. The Eagles will try to protect their perfect 13-0 record and the No. 5 ranking in the nation.
American already has beaten No. 7 Old Dominion and No. 19 James Madison, while the Cavs have lost to Old Dominion and squeaked by James Madison by a score of 4-3. Virginia will try to bounce back from Sunday's loss to No. 4 North Carolina.
"American is going to play really fast against us," senior midfielder Allie Flynn said. "They are going to play a possession kind of game. We can't wait until the second half to start playing. We're not a team that can dig ourselves out of a hole very easily, and we need to stop letting the other team get on the board first."
Fynn and the rest of the Cavaliers will certainly have their work cut out for them against an experienced American squad. However, Wilk has always seemed to find ways to prepare her team for these types of games. Throughout her coaching career, her teams have beaten top-ranked teams on multiple occasions. A win tonight will help propel Virginia toward Wilk's aspirations for the Cavaliers.
"I want to win ACC Championships, and I want to win NCAA Championships," Wilk said of her future goals. "I want to compete at the highest level, and I want to win at the highest level."
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