Entering the 2013 season, the No. 5 Virginia field hockey team faced a lot of uncertainty regarding its offense. With the graduation of Olympians Paige Selenski and Michelle Vittese and the transfer of forward Rachel Sumfest, the Cavaliers were left without three of their top four goal scorers from the 2012 season. But thanks in large part to a nine-player deep Class of 2017 recruiting class, the Virginia attack now ranks second in the nation in goals scored.
“We work really hard, we’re enthusiastic, we try to get the team going,” freshman midfielder Lucy Hyams said. “I think we’ve worked really hard recently, and that showed from the beginning of the season. We scored goals, we’re getting on the score sheet, and it’s nice that we’re working well together and with the team.”
Virginia (13-2, 1-2 ACC) has received unprecedented contributions from the freshman class. Three freshmen rank in the top four on the team in both goals and points, and five of them have contributed at least one goal or one assist this year, a feat matched only by the senior class.
“We may have seen something like this when Paige [Selenski] was a freshman, but that was just one person,” head coach Michele Madison said. “The freshman have been doing well scoring, but they also get defensive saves and they’re contributing all over the field. I knew what they were capable of, but I didn’t know how fast they would adjust. They’re really getting better now.”
Three freshmen in particular have stood out on the Cavalier offense — forwards Caleigh Foust and Riley Tata and Hyams in midfield. The three account for 46 percent of Virginia goals on the season and have provided a perpetual threat on offense in every game — at least one of the three has scored in all but two of the Cavaliers’ 15 games this year.
Hyams, according to Madison, is the most seasoned of all the freshmen on the team. In addition to five goals on the season, her six assists are second-most on the team. She hails from England, where she played on the U16, U18 and U21 National Teams.
“I played with [junior back Jess Orrett] in England on U16 and U18 and I knew that she came over here, so I decided to look into it,” Hyams said. “I didn’t really look anywhere else — I looked at the program here and it was really good … I was lucky enough to have the backing of the England coaches to allow me to come out here and potentially go back and play there.”
Hyams has started 14 games this season, five more than the next closest freshman. In addition to her statistical success, Hyams has been a consistent force in the midfield, drawing defenders and creating opportunities for other players.
“Lucy is a very skilled player with loads of international experience,” Madison said. “Her hockey IQ is what really helps us. She knows what to do in what situations.”
Only senior forward Elly Buckley’s 17 goals outstrip Foust’s nine, who is tied as the leading freshman scorer for Virginia. At Harriton High School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., she was two-time MVP of her field hockey team and an All-American in lacrosse. Foust was named ACC Player of the Week Sept. 10 after posting hat tricks in back-to-back games against Yale and Old Dominion. She is the only freshman player to have claimed the award in 2013.
Tata, a Virginia Beach native, joins Foust with nine on the season. However, Tata is the most efficient of the top Virginia scorers, having converted the nine goals on just 25 shots, compared with 45 shots from Foust and 103 from Buckley. At Norfolk Academy she was a two-time All-State selection and holds school records for most career goals, assists and points. Her nine goals this season have come in seven different games, and along with Foust, she has become known for scoring “scrappy” goals in large crowds around the net.
“Riley and Caleigh call themselves the ‘Garbage Goal Girls,’” Madison said. “They’re proud of that, and proud that they get in there and mess it up with the goalie and touch everything that’s coming around the goal.”
Freshmen midfielders Macy Peebles and Emilia Tapsall and back Jeannie Blackwood have all seen playing time in 12 or more games and are also making immediate contributions to the team.
But Madison said the real test for all the freshmen will come next season, when the current senior class graduates.
“We knew the seniors were graduating eight-strong, so we wanted to beef up this class so they could have a year of experience before they would have to play starring roles next year,” Madison said. “We brought in someone from every position except goalkeeper.”
The nine-member freshman class makes up nearly 40 percent of the entire roster, a staggering proportion of first-year players for a team that has resided comfortably within the top 10 all season. Hyams said mutual trust between the older players and the Class of 2017 has facilitated much of the younger players’ success.
“The girls are really trusting of us, which is always a really big step, because we’re new and don’t necessarily know the system as well as they do,” Hyams said. “It’s more of a trust between everyone else to let us go out and play our game and prove to them that we should be out on the field.”
Buckley said the contribution from the freshmen was welcomed with open arms.
“It’s been really awesome to have them,” she said after a game against North Carolina in September. “They’re super enthusiastic and very hard working. It’s great to have a group of girls that push us every day, and we push them as well.”
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