Continuing their hot streak, No. 3 Virginia field hockey faced off against California Friday in Charlottesville to kick off conference play. The Cavaliers (6-0, 1-0 ACC) stayed undefeated as they fought off the Golden Bears (4-1, 0-1 ACC) in a 4-3 home victory.
Before Friday’s game, Virginia and California had come face to face four times — the most recent being a Golden Bears overtime victory in 2011 — but the teams can expect to meet much more often now that California has joined the ACC. Of those four matchups, each team had each won two.
While the first period was scoreless, Virginia and California were giving each other a run for their money. Right off the bat, junior midfielder Lauren Kenah proved how aggressive she was willing to play, grabbing the ball from a Golden Bears midfielder and then not a minute later controlling another ball passed through the air by California.
Three minutes into the match, the Golden Bears' junior forward Morgan Kallmann took a hard and fast shot on goal — which was quickly saved by senior goalkeeper Tyler Kennedy.
The beginning of the first quarter was highlighted by California pushing the ball forward and keeping it out of their half of the field. Virginia found it hard to push back — the Golden Bears knew they had to hold a strong and aggressive defense while fighting the Cavaliers. While doing so, they were also keeping themselves in front of Kennedy.
After seven minutes, Virginia finally got their footing as junior midfielder Daniela Mendez-Trendler ran the ball up the field, making a cross that was unreceived in front of the goal.
However, the Cavaliers did not give up there. Almost immediately after, freshman midfielder Amelie Rees shot the ball just left of California’s goal, followed by a perfect hit to the middle of the goal that was closely saved by Golden Bears junior goalkeeper Tina Jolly.
California wanted the ball away from their goal as quickly as possible and made sure to do just that — within 20 seconds, the Golden Bears had advanced on Virginia's goal. Yet as they tried to cross the ball to get a better angle at the goal, graduate midfielder Meghen Hengrer intercepted a pass to California senior back Money Stuckey, who was in a perfect position to score.
The Golden Bears are arguably the most well-matched team the Cavaliers have been up against thus far this season — which was shown through the first period ending at a 0-0 score.
Virginia entered the second period with more energy than the first — they made sure to take possession quickly and put themselves in positions to score. Just over a minute and a half into the period, senior back Jans Croon did just that as she took a straight shot into the goal, the ball flying above defenders' heads to take a 1-0 lead.
Not willing to let the Cavaliers get the best of them, California made an immediate move after numbers went up on the scoreboard. Following a quick tussle over the ball, the Golden Bears flew down the field faster than Virginia could follow, leaving key territory wide open for sophomore forward Liz Klompmaker to get the ball past Kennedy to tie up the game 1-1.
The Cavaliers and California continued to fight for possession and time as the first half came to a close. Both teams ensured that their opponents could not gain much ground, ending the first half still tied.
As has been seen in their previous games, Virginia wanted to get ahead — and stay ahead —- early on. In the case of the third quarter, it took just under two minutes for Mendez-Trendler to get the ball in the back of the net, pulling the Cavaliers ahead 2-1 as she fought through a crowd of Golden Bear defenders.
Even after gaining a slight advantage over California, Virginia made sure to push harder — they kept the ball above the midfield line for the majority of the third quarter, making it hard for the Golden Bears to get any sort of intentional possession.
With controlled stick work, the Cavaliers pushed the ball up and up, finally giving senior striker Taryn Tkachuk a wide open shot, which she took to send the ball whizzing past Jolly's right shoulder for the score — Virginia was now up 3-1.
California freshman midfielder Maya Hoepfner finally got a chance to score off of a penalty corner. In spite of her closeness to the goal as she shot, Kennedy was still able to make a beautiful save, ensuring the third quarter ended 3-1 in favor of the Cavaliers.
As these two undefeated teams entered the final quarter of the match, each was aware that victory would require the utmost focus and grit. Every moment was a critical juncture.
And Mendez-Trendler knew how to make every second count. Just three minutes into the fourth quarter she hit the ball sharply into the left corner of the net — her second goal of the game and third of the season — expanding the Virginia margin 4-1.
However, the Golden Bears were able to slip past the Cavaliers' attempts to be more controlled.
Off of a corner, California's Hoepfner fought through the mayhem to shoot the ball right between Kennedy's legs — as the final minutes of the game approached, the score was now 4-2.
It seemed as though Virginia was ensured its victory as the scoreboard ticked down the final 10 seconds, and as fans started to let out a sigh of relief they quickly focused back in on the game when the Golden Bears were awarded a corner with 0.1 seconds left in the period — one they were able to score off of, making the final score of the game 4-3 for the Cavaliers' first ACC game of the season.
While a victory over California is huge news, it doesn't mean that Virginia is without flaws to work out before their future games.
"We've got to play more confidently,” Coach Ole Keusgen said. "We must be more forceful with the ball and more decisive in the future."
Up next, Virginia will host Stanford — another new ACC addition — Sunday at 1 p.m. at University Hall Turf Field. The game will be streamed on ACCNX.
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