RICHMOND-Within the first five minutes of last night's game against Virginia Commonwealth, the Virginia field hockey team found the back of the net to notch its first score of the night.
It was all they would need.
Although the No. 8 Cavaliers (8-3, 0-2 ACC) added another three goals down the stretch, they kept the Rams (2-9) off the scoreboard, and walked away with a 4-0 victory to rebound from Sunday's 3-2 loss to Conference rival Maryland.
"It was very important" to turn things around, Cav coach Jessica Wilk said. "Sunday was a little frustrating. It was important to put two good halves together, especially with Yale coming up."
Midfielder Jess Coleman notched the first Virginia score with 31:35 to go. Converting on a penalty corner, Coleman slapped the ball home off assists from fourth-year midfielder Laura Lindsay and second-year midfielder Carrie Goodloe.
Less than eight minutes later, third-year forward Lorraine Vizzuso would add the Cavs' second tally, taking the assist from Coleman to give Virginia a 2-0 lead.
The Rams then would hold the Cavaliers scoreless until there was 5:15 to go in the game, when Lindsay scored off the dish from Goodloe on a breakaway. Coleman drove home the final blow with 1:40 remaining on another penalty corner.
"We did a nice job improving on some things we didn't execute too well on Sunday," Wilk said.
Yet the real story was Virginia's continually tight defense, which held VCU to just four shots, as opposed to the Cavs' 28. The Cavaliers also allowed the Rams to have just six corners, while the Cavs had a whopping 18.
"We couldn't get a sustained attack because we couldn't get more than one pass off," Ram coach Dawn Hill said. "I wasn't surprised [at their defense] - I have a lot of respect for the program. I know they lost a lot to graduation but they still look very tough."
"I thought our defense did a great job stepping up," Wilk said. "They did a nice job distributing the ball after they stopped the offense."
Such play contributed to a rough campaign for VCU. The Rams now have tallied just one goal in their last three contests. Keeping opponents from amassing too many penalty corners also has been a problem, Hill explained.
"Unfortunately it's happened before," she said. "On some of them we just panicked. We shot ourselves in the foot."
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