The Virginia field hockey team will work on improving as a team when it faces Radford at home Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.
Radford senior goalkeeper Brooke Peterson, who has tallied over 100 saves and recorded four shutouts this season, will lead the Highlanders (4-9) against the Cavaliers. She was a key factor in the Radford's 1-0 overtime victory over Davidson on Wednesday, making seven saves.
Virginia (9-3) also is strong in net with sophomore goalkeeper Emily White. White has four shutouts this season and her save percentage of 78.7 percent is the highest in the ACC. Behind White and senior defender Mason White, who came up with big saves in the Cavaliers' 2-1 overtime win over No. 15 James Madison on Wednesday, the Virginia defense appears to be in solid shape.
The Cavalier offense also is strong, with senior co-captains Jessie Coleman and Carrie Goodloe leading the charge. Coleman is the ACC scoring leader with 12 goals this season, and Goodloe leads the ACC in assists with nine. Goodloe also holds second place for all-time assists at Virginia with 48.
Virginia junior Katie Slocum has come up big this season as well by scoring key goals in critical games. She scored the winning goal against James Madison Wednesday and one of the goals in the Cavaliers' 3-2 upset over first-ranked Maryland on Sept. 30.
Radford's offense is led by sophomore Erin Hebert and junior Jammie Hillian, both of whom have four goals this season.
Against the Dukes, Virginia dominated offensively by outshooting the Dukes, 12-5. Against Radford the Cavaliers will need to continue to dominate on the attack while also focusing on working together.
Although Radford has not had a very strong season, Virginia is preparing seriously for them and isn't expecting Radford to hand over a victory.
"We're focusing on one game at a time," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said. "We want to show up, set the tone of each game and play our style."
The Cavaliers hope to maximize their team strengths against Radford. Virginia will concentrate on having strong accurate passes, playing solid team defense and working together to force offensive penalty corners and to prevent defensive penalty corners.
"When we're working as a unit, we're at our strongest," Coleman said. "Becoming stronger as a team is our main focus against Radford"
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