The road to an ACC Championship was cut short for the Virginia field hockey team this weekend, when the Cavaliers were knocked off by Maryland 2-0 Friday in the semifinals of the Conference Tournament, held in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Cavs (13-7) started the tourney off strong, with a 2-0 victory over the fifth-seeded Blue Devils Thursday afternoon in the play-in game.
Forward Meredith Elwell struck first, slipping a hard shot past Duke goalkeeper Jenn Robb to put the Cavs on the board with 8:59 left in the first. With less than five minutes to go, Jessica Coleman added an insurance goal by nailing a shot off the assist from Laura Lindsay.
The Blue Devils rallied, however, orchestrating an offensive drive consisting of four consecutive corners, only to be stopped cold by a solid Cav defense.
Led by third-year Julia Richardson, the defense stifled all nine Devil corners on the day, while keeper Becky Worthington stopped every Duke shot.
"I wanted to go in there like a Mack truck and stop them," Richardson said. "There was no way I was going to let anyone get into the circle."
The tables were turned on the Cavs the next day, though, as No. 1-ranked Maryland handed No. 10 Virginia the 2-0 defeat.
"Maryland played a great game," Cav Coach Jessica Wilk said. "They were well-coached and well-disciplined and they were able to execute on both ends of the field and that made a difference."
Maryland put the pressure on the Cavaliers early and kept it there the entire game, forcing 13 corners and taking 13 shots on goal. The Virginia offense struggled, answering with only three corners and zero shots on goal.
Although they went scoreless in the first half, the Terp offense converged early in the second to score two goals within minutes of each other. That was all they needed to advance.
Once again, however, the Cavalier defense was there to make sure the Terps didn't walk away with an easy victory. Worthington and company survived eight corners in the first half to keep Maryland scoreless at intermission. Worthington also tallied six saves, many of them while surrounded by Terp players, to keep the game close.
Maryland and Wake Forest faced off for the ACC title yesterday. The result was unavailable at press time.
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