RICHMOND-Virginia field hockey coach Jessica Wilk would like all her games to go this well.
Take an early lead. Play stifling defense for 70 minutes. Then sit back and watch as your goalkeeper swats back everything headed her way. What more could you ask?
Try this: Do it again tomorrow. Less than 24 hours after the Cavs (2-1) walked off Crenshaw Field in Richmond last night with an impressive 3-0 victory over the Spiders (2-3), they'll go at it again versus Northwestern. Today at 4 p.m. at the University Hall Turf Field, the Cavaliers will try to duplicate the same defensive intensity and offensive execution they showed last night.
"We think we can play back-to-back and win," Wilk said. "We played a good game in the sense that we made good corrections in the second half, but we can't be satisfied with just the result of the win. We need to make some improvements before Northwestern."
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Virginia had the game in hand nearly from the beginning. Only six minutes in, junior midfielder Carrie Goodloe took a deflected shot off a penalty corner and rifled it past Richmond goalkeeper Brooke Fuller into the center of the cage. With a one-goal lead and momentum, the Cavs kept the Spiders at bay for the rest of the half. They managed only two shots and four penalty corners, while Virginia continued to attack, piling up 11 shots and five corners.
But if Cav goalie Becky Worthington thought she wasn't going to be tested yesterday afternoon, she had the wrong idea. Richmond features a strong attack with 1999 All-CAA forward Heather Rice and junior midfielder Holly Chase. Both came into the game red-hot: Rice with 16 points and Chase with seven, both in only four games. Worthington ended their luck, however, by making save after athletic save in the second half - five in all - and recording her first shutout of the season.
"That's the best Becky's ever played," said Richmond coach Shelly Behrens, who coached Worthington on the national team. "In the second half, we played well and stuck to the game plan, but the goalkeeping by Virginia was very good."
With 6:16 left in the first half, Cav midfielder Jessica Coleman put her team up 2-0 with a flip to the top right-hand corner of the goal. When Cav back Kelli Hill scored on a soft ground ball with 22:45 left, Virginia knew it would take a miracle for the Spiders to crawl back in.
As Worthington looked like an impenetrable wall in goal, Virginia saw just how well it could play if all the pieces fit together. Coleman, the sparkplug of the offense, scored her first goal of the year. Promising freshman back Katie Jo Gerfen notched an assist. On defense, sweeper Julia Richardson teamed with Gerfen, Hill, Kristy Sott and Mason White to shut down Rice and Chase. Even Cav forward Lorraine Vizzuso took advantage of the blowout by icing her knees in preparation for the Wildcats today.
Meanwhile, the Spiders, decked out in spandex shorts rather than the customary skirts (last weekend, they joined Michigan as the only field hockey programs to eliminate skirts from their uniforms), watched in envy at a team with everything clicking.
"They're right in the thick of things," Behrens said about the Cavs. "They have great individual talent and a great goalkeeper. This is a team that is going to be a legitimate contender in the ACC and around the region"
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