After splitting a pair of games last weekend in Louisville with a 2-1 win against Rutgers and a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to No. 14 Louisville, the No. 19 Virginia field hockey team had its most dominating performance of the season last night in its 6-1 dismissal of Radford at the Turf Field.
Following the Cavaliers' loss Sunday to Louisville, in which the Cardinals scored late in regulation to even the score and scored the game-winner in the opening minute of overtime, the Cavaliers (8-6, 0-2 ACC) knew they had to step up their performance against Radford (4-10) in preparation for the heart of the conference schedule that faces the team in the coming weeks. The Cavaliers are hoping their convincing win against Radford is just the turnaround they need.
"Over the weekend, we didn't really play to our fullest potential," sophomore Traci Ragukas said. "We had to use this game to pick ourselves up."
Virginia dominated Radford offensively for the entire game, but scored just once in the first half, despite out-shooting Radford 10-4. The Highlanders were able to hang with Virginia in the first period on the strength of five saves from freshman goalkeeper Jennifer Wisniewski, last week's Northern Pacific Conference player of the week. The Highlanders were unable to contain the Cavaliers for long, however, as Virginia exploded for five goals in the second period.
Ragukas was the key to Virginia's offense as she had a hand in five of the team's six goals. Ragukas earned a penalty stroke that landed Virginia its first goal, scored the second and the sixth goals, assisted the third, and earned a short corner that led to the fifth. After being frustrated in the first half, Ragukas collected herself to lead Virginia to its convincing win.
"She got frustrated early on in the first half," coach Michele Madison said. "At halftime we tried to get her back on her game, and say, 'Come on, do it with skill, do it with your attack, get your game back, it'll come.'"
On the opening goal, Madison called on junior Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn to take the penalty, and she responded by ripping a shot that passed just inside the left post past a helpless Wisniewski.
"She's scored every stroke for us so far in the last two years," Madison said. "When you take the strokes, you want to put the one up there who has the mentality to put it away."
Early in the second half, Ragukas was rewarded for her efforts in the box score with her only goal of the game. After collecting the ball at the top of the circle, she carried it into the left of the circle and whipped a shot to the near post, beating Wisniewski to give Virginia a 2-0 lead. Ragukas then found freshman Kaitlyn Hiltz in front of the goal, who scored her third goal of the year to push the lead to 3-0.
In the 56th minute, the Cardinals managed to get on the board to spoil the Virginia shutout. The Cavaliers responded, however, by adding three more goals in the last 10 minutes to seal the game.
As the Cavaliers look to take on three ranked conference opponents in No. l North Carolina, No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 11 Duke in the last two weeks of the season, Virginia is hoping this win will propel a surge that lands the Cavaliers in the place all teams aim for: the NCAA Tournament.
"Teams are driving for that tournament bid," Madison said. "If you want to get there you can't focus on that, but it motivates you for sure to put your best effort in every day."
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