The No. 6 Virginia field hockey team played its final two home games of the regular season this weekend, playing Friday evening against Liberty followed by a Sunday afternoon matchup against No. 19 Old Dominion .
Virginia (12-5, 4-1) split the pair of games, beating the Flames (9-6, 3-0 NorPac), 3-2, in overtime, while falling in the final two minutes, 1-0, to the Monarchs (9-6, 2-1 Big East).
Sunday, the final home game of the season, was also the team’s Senior Day, held in recognition of its five seniors following the Old Dominion game.
Friday, the Cavaliers spent a significant portion of the first half in Liberty’s territory, with four shots and two penalty corners, while Liberty also managed three shots on goal.
About 23 minutes into the game, junior forward Sarah Gipe passed in front of the goal, created space and was able to score to put Liberty up, 1-0.
Following their first goal, the Flames gained and maintained momentum throughout the rest of the first half and into the second half, when sophomore midfielder Bethany Barr got on the scoreboard around the 45-minute mark after an initial save off of a corner penalty.
Virginia mounted a comeback, however, during the final 20 minutes of the second half, with freshman midfielder Tara Vittese scoring at the 61-minute mark off of an assist from sophomore midfielder Lucy Hyams. Seven minutes later, Vittese returned the favor, setting up Hyams for the game-tying goal.
Following Hyams’ equalizer the Cavaliers then headed into their fifth overtime game of the season. After 10 minutes of play that included three shots by Liberty and two by Virginia, Vittese was able to put home the game-winner off of a penalty stroke.
“At first, we had a lot of opportunities to capitalize, but we just couldn’t finish,” Vittese said. “Then the second half came, and we turned things around. I think putting a lift on the pass really helped us because they were really strong on the ground and that helped us get corners and get the ball in the net.”
Vittese’s two goals in the game propelled her season total to a team-high 15 with two games remaining in the regular season. She also leads the team in points scored and assists, with 46 and 16, respectively. Vittese’s 16 assists are already the most in a season by a freshman in program history.
“Big players have to play big in big games, and Tara and Lucy and everyone was doing the work all over the field,” coach Michele Madison said.
Sunday’s game against Old Dominion was well-matched, with both teams posting strong showings on both sides of the field. The Cavaliers and Monarchs each spent a fair amount of time in the opponent’s territory during the first half. However, neither team was able to capitalize on their offensive attacks, despite each team firing six shots and two penalty corners.
But when the teams came back out for the second half, the Monarchs put Virginia on the defensive. Old Dominion tallied eight shots compared to Virginia’s two, and had three more penalty corners than the Cavaliers, who had none.
Nevertheless, a strong defensive performance kept the game knotted at 0-0 until the very end of the game. Senior goalkeeper Jenny Johnstone carried the defense with seven saves. But with 1:28 remaining in the game, Old Dominion sophomore midfielder Megan Byas scored the only goal of the game off of a penalty corner, sealing the win for the Monarchs as the Cavaliers were unable to rally in the short remaining time.
“That’s the game,” Madison said. “Old Dominion has a great press, and I saw that they have been keeping most teams to one or two goals a game or none, so I knew it was going to be close and we would have to be able to create some attack.”
Despite the loss, the team still celebrated all five of their seniors in a ceremony following the game.
“They are great leaders, they lead by example, they are always there working hard,” Madison said. “Even today, they stood out because they were the ones trying to make something happen and tried to energize the team to turn the game around to victory.”
Though this was the last regular season game at home, the Cavaliers have games at Boston College and Boston University coming up next weekend.
“We have to rest [the team] up and get them ready,” Madison said. “It was an emotional day being Senior Day. It is a young team, but they will bounce back, they have bounced back before. We are going to go to Boston College and we are going to go after the [ACC] title, that is for sure.”
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