The No. 5 Virginia field hockey team opened up its 2016 campaign at home Friday afternoon, rolling to an easy 5-1 win against Miami (Ohio).
Many predicted the contest to be much closer, but neither the RedHawks’ stout defense nor temperatures in the mid-90s could slow down the Cavaliers.
Senior striker Riley Tata led the way with a pair of nice goals for Virginia (1-0, 1-0 ACC), and the Cavaliers ultimately defeated Miami (0-1, 0-1 MAC) for the second time in two years.
Tata scored both her goals in the first half to give the Cavaliers a commanding 3-0 at halftime. Senior midfielder Lucy Hyams assisted on Tata’s second goal when Tata deflected in a long pass from the top of the circle.
Senior striker Caleigh Foust opened up the scoring for the Cavaliers three minutes into the game with a beautiful individual play, beating two defenders and finishing with a strong strike to the bottom right corner of the net.
A balance of great offense and defense was the theme of the day for the Cavaliers.
“The offense comes from the defense and that’s how we really developed the play from the back to the forwards,” Tata said. “Without them we wouldn’t have gotten any of those goals.”
With five goals from four different players and a defense that held Miami scoreless for 54 minutes, it is difficult to critique the Cavaliers’ game play. Yet, even with five goals, Virginia struggled to finish many scoring opportunities. The Cavaliers were only able to capitalize on two of their 15 shots in the second half, an alarming rate for coach Michele Madison.
“We need to work on goal scoring opportunities,” Madison said. “I think we could have connected on a few more.”
Virginia had 26 shots in the game, and with so many shots the team felt it should have ultimately secured more than five goals.
Tata was quick to acknowledge the overall success of the offense, but also didn’t forget to point out the struggles as well.
“I thought we have some things to work on, but we did a pretty good job overall,” Tata said. “We did our attacking game plan and we used many players, first years including and that’s going to be essential for success down the road.”
Just like Madison, Tata pointed to finishing as the Cavaliers most noticeable struggle. It is something they need to improve on if they want to beat higher-level competition.
“We obviously have a lot to work on because we weren’t scoring on all of them,” Tata said. “But practicing every single day, a hundred times a day will get it done.”
The use of freshman players for the Cavaliers was not just evident, but impactful. Freshman striker Erin Shanahan extended Virginia’s lead to four in the second half and freshman back Dominique van Slooten scored three minutes later to make it 5-0. Shanahan was able to hammer home a rebound after a great save by Miami senior goalkeeper Alysa Xavier. Van Slooten scored directly off a corner from a crisp pass from Hyams.
Even though it was the first game of the year, the Cavaliers looked like a team that had been playing together for half a season. They communicated and advised one another, but also held each other accountable.
“I thought the command from each other was exceptional,” Madison said. “They were really demanding a lot out of each other to stay focused and stay into in and they showed a lot of discipline.”
Virginia was in midseason form and the scoreboard certainly reflected it.
However, The Cavaliers did not continue the winning streak as they took on No. 18 Penn State Sunday afternoon losing 3-0.
Five of their next six games will be played at home giving them home turf for an extended period of time. Virginia will take on Rutgers Friday at 5 p.m. in Charlottesville.
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