No. 10 Virginia field hockey won its third straight game last night as it defeated Longwood 3-0. The Cavaliers (11-4) scored three goals in the first 35 minutes and held the Lancer offense at bay for the remainder of the contest to preserve the 3-0 victory.
Sophomore Amy Desjadon and senior Kat Blair combined on the shutout for Virginia.
"A good thing about tonight was that we went up 2-0, but we scored again after that," sophomore Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn said. "Against JMU we had a letdown, and against Richmond we had a letdown, but this time we kept it."
The first goal for the Cavaliers came on a diving play from freshman Traci Ragukas in the fifth minute. On a cross from sophomore Liz Hiltz, Ragukas dove for the ball as it skipped across the wet turf and poked it past Longwood goaltender Erin West.
The goal was Ragukas' 13th on the season, ranking her in the top 25 nationally for goals per game. It also tied her for most goals ever scored by a freshman at Virginia.
The Cavaliers took a 2-0 lead just five minutes later when a blast from Kaars Sijpesteijn found its way past West and into the back of the net. The short corner goal was Kaar's Sijpesteijn's 10th on the season, ranking her second on the team in that category behind Ragukas.
The goal "was off of a short corner," Kaars Sijpesteijn said. "I don't know, I just hit it well."
Virginia struck once more before the end of the half when Kaars Sijpesteijn sent a pass to Ragukas in the upper left corner. Ragukas then found sophomore Sara Confer alone in front of the net. Confer one-timed the shot from Ragukas for her third goal of the season.
The offense that played so well for the first half, however, was held scoreless for the remaining 35 minutes. Virginia was unable to manage another goal, despite notching eight shots on goal in the second half.
"I thought the first half we came out and played pretty well," Virginia coach Michele Madison said. "We came out and stuck to the game plan, and we moved the ball well. We got short corners, and we got shots on goal. In terms of the second half, that's a question that the team is going to have to answer."
Longwood threatened as they pressed the Cavalier offense. Junior Katie Claxton provided the Lancers with the best opportunity to cut the Cavalier lead to two goals with about ten minutes left in regulation. Claxton's shot skipped just wide of the goal.
That opportunity was just about the only one Virginia's defense would allow as Longwood only managed one other shot the rest of the game. The Lancers finished the contest with just two shots on the Cavalier goal.
The Cavaliers will look to extend their three-game winning streak Friday night at home against Stanford. Despite not having lost since Sept. 29 against No. 1 Maryland, Madison knows her team needs to play for a full 70 minutes if it hopes to find success down the homestretch.
"We are going to have to come up with another game plan tomorrow, watch some tape of Stanford and try to get our game back, because we definitely lost it in the second half" Madison said. "We have to try and bring [our game] back and play it for longer, because it's about 35 minutes now and that's it."
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