The weather in Virginia's two regional field hockey matches last weekend could not have contrasted more. Against William & Mary Friday evening, the steady rain splashed against the spongy Turf Field, whereas Sunday's match against James Madison featured clear skies and a refreshing breeze. The performance of the Cavaliers, however, did not waiver, as they held off William & Mary in a 2-1 victory and followed Sunday with a 3-1 dismissal of James Madison.
James Madison and William & Mary "are both really big opponents and great teams," junior Lucy Meyers said. "We've been performing all year, it just hasn't shown up on the scoreboard, so it's great that we finally got the result we wanted."
Meyers was the star of the weekend for the No. 17 Cavaliers (5-2, 0-0 ACC), as she scored both goals against No. 23 William & Mary and the first goal against No. 8 James Madison. After previously notching just one goal in her career at Virginia, her breakout performance this weekend could not have been timelier.
"I told [Virginia coach Michele Madison] before the game on Friday, 'I'm going to score on one of these corners, I know it,'" Meyers said. "I think I made my spot on the corner team."
The victory against James Madison (5-1) carried with it the weight of Virginia's first win over a higher-ranked opponent this season. From the opening whistle, the high intensity and physical play on both sides demonstrated the heated rivalry between the teams.
"James Madison is a good team, so we knew we had to do the work, and stay focused on the game plan, and I think that's what won out in the end," Madison said.
Following the goal from Meyers in the 11th minute, the Dukes evened the score at one goal apiece as junior Melissa Stefaniak put a swift move to beat redshirt junior goalkeeper Amy Desjadon on a breakaway in the 31st minute. Virginia rebounded in the second period, however, with goals from sophomore Fenna Breitbarth in her first goal of the season and from junior Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn on a short-handed effort to take a two-goal lead. The Cavalier defense held the Dukes to just five shots to conserve the win.
"It was a big step in terms of finishing plays in the back and the front," Madison said. "They had a breakaway, and we made a mistake in the coverage, and that's probably the only mistake the defense made all day."
Due partly to the rain, Virginia did not feature the same precision against William & Mary two days earlier; the teams were even in shots (9-8 to the Tribe) and short corners (6-6). The story for Virginia, however, was not flawless execution but adaptation to the disagreeable weather.
"It made it a little slow, so we had to bring it in a little closer together because it was wet," Madison said. "They found a way to do it, so they showed determination the whole weekend."
Virginia was first to strike Friday, as Sijpesteijn ripped a shot from the top of the circle off a short corner that Meyers redirected into the goal in the 10th minute. The Cavaliers clung to this lead until they allowed six consecutive short corners with time winding down in the first half, finally surrendering a goal with less than a minute remaining in the period. Virginia bounced back in the second half, however, as Meyers found her way out of a scrum in the circle to beat the keeper and give the Cavaliers a lead they would never relinquish.
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