Since Virginia coach Michele Madison arrived to the athletic department as field hockey head coach last season, the program has soared from the basement of the ACC to a top-20 team nationally. Last year alone the Cavaliers achieved a level of performance that Virginia fans had scarcely seen in the 21st century; the first ACC win since 2000, the first winning record since 2001 and the first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. For her efforts, Madison was honored by womensfieldhockey.com with the National Coach of the Year award.
Winning the Coach of the Year award was "something we all did together," Madison said. "When the team buys into what the coaches are trying to do, miracles happen."
With the return of Madison this year, the future of Virginia (5-5, 0-2 ACC) continues to be bright. Up and down the roster, the players cannot sing enough praises of the second-year coach.
"She has a lot of faith in people," senior Abby Taylor said. "She'll just take every individual and just build them up."
One of the most important concepts that Madison has brought to Virginia is what the players call "the system," the team's tactical approach to stifling the opponents defense and creating scoring chances on the offensive side of the field. In addition to providing specific, aggressive guidelines to Virginia's attack and defense, the system also requires the team to work as one unit on both ends of the field.
"It puts everybody on the same page, it forces communication," Taylor said. "Whereas most teams work in each line, we're all working together to get the same thing."
Defensively, Virginia is very aggressive in the pressure it places on the opposition. The chief goal of the defense is to make the middle of the field virtually inaccessible to the opponent's offense. At the same time, the Cavaliers attempt to channel the opposing team into one side of the field and aim to make the opposing attack as predictable as possible.
"Our midfielders need to line the forwards up as to where they need to be, so when the ball's on the right side, we're going to line them up so the forwards are taking away the left option," Taylor said. "The defenders' job is to line up the midfielders to make sure we're always protecting the center."
Similar to Virginia's style of defending as one dynamic unit, the team attacks as a group as well. When Virginia gains possession, everyone, from defenders to forwards, pushes up the field and attacks the circle to create goal-scoring opportunities.
"When we're on attack, we're all on attack together," Taylor said. "It's not forwards are going to go, defenders are going to hang back."
With all of the complexities involved with the system on both ends of the field, the learning process is just that: a process that can take the better part of a season to become second-nature.
"We're trying to really teach the players to make decisions based on certain situations on the field," Madison said. "Obviously that takes longer to learn, especially when you have eight new players this year."
Because the returning players have a year of playing with Madison's style under their belt, however, the learning process for the freshmen has been much easier. If a player is having problems learning the system, she can now turn to the returning players for guidance, in addition to an experienced coaching staff.
"It's not just [Madison] that is teaching it now," Taylor said. "I think [the system has] been able to progress a lot easier, because she has our help. The first-years know they can come to us if they're too afraid"
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