NORFOLK, Va.-In a tough battle on Old Dominion's Foreman Field Saturday, the 2000 campaign for the No. 9 Virginia field hockey team ended when it lost 2-1 to No. 10 Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the Cavs' loss, the contest was an almost-perfect field hockey game. Play was balanced throughout most of the match, something you would expect in a matchup between the nation's ninth and 10th-ranked teams.
"From a spectator's point of view, it was a very exciting game to watch," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said.
Connecticut coach Nancy Stevens agreed. "The game was very even," she said. "The two teams were evenly matched. In this game, I couldn't pick a winner."
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In the end, Connecticut (17-7) had the edge. The Huskies garnered 11 penalty corners to the Cavaliers' eight and outshot the Cavs (14-8) 14 to 11. Even then, it took a hard-fought goal by Connecticut's freshman forward Amy Marland with just over a minute left in the game to decide the winner.
"Connecticut came out and played very, very well," Wilk said. "We got off to a little bit of a slow start. We started to pick it up later, but we were a little bit undisciplined towards the end of the game. We also had some mistakes here and there that they capitalized on and ended up hurting us in the long run."
After a scoreless and uneventful first half during which both teams acquired only one corner each, aggressive play and momentum shifts characterized the second period. The Huskies got on the board first with 26 minutes to go when junior forward Kelly Cochrane fired a shot into the back of the cage off an assist from senior forward Amy Herz.
Nine minutes later, the Cavaliers responded by forcing five consecutive penalty corners in a span of two minutes. The Cavs tied the game with the fifth corner. Freshman midfielder Katie Jo Gerfen chipped in a goal assisted by Carrie Goodloe and Emily White.
But Connecticut took the upper hand for most of the remainder of the game and forced the next nine penalty corners. With tight defense and a series of spectacular saves by Virginia goalkeeper Becky Worthington, the Cavs were able to counter the Huskies' attack. However, the slew of corners was still too much, and Marland was finally able to hit the game-winning shot for Connecticut off of the final corner.
"I was surprised to see so many corners," Stevens said. "They came in buckets at a time. But the NCAA Tournament is a tournament of momentum, and each team gets momentum for blocks of time. And if you fail to score in that window when it's open, it's tough. Virginia had that window and scored, and then we had the window and scored. The corners show that there were some pretty big momentum shifts in the game."
Virginia had one final window of opportunity with a pair of corners in the last 20 seconds, but Connecticut goalkeeper Alana Linick made two daring saves to secure the victory for the Huskies.
"We fought hard and came back after Connecticut went up 1-0," Wilk said. "We did a great job of fighting to tie it up. But all those corners we gave up in the last five minutes of the game really hurt us."
Linick ended the game with six saves, while Worthington finished with eight.
Connecticut lost yesterday to top-seeded Old Dominion, 6-4, in the tournament's second round.
Virginia finishes season with a 14-8 record. It is also the second consecutive year the Cavaliers have been eliminated in the Tournament's opening round. Although they are disappointed with the early exit, the Cavs have a lot to be proud of.
"This season and this team are very unique," Wilk said. "It was a great year. They were a great group to work with. We certainly had our ups and downs, but I felt that we were building in the right direction. I'm certainly going to walk away with a great feeling about this team and the year that they've had"
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