After soundly defeating Duke, 3-1, on Thursday, the Virginia field hockey team exited the ACC tournament Friday unsatisfied following a 4-1 loss to eventual tournament champion Maryland. The Terrapins played aggressive hockey and nearly silenced the Cavaliers' offense.
"Maryland did a good job taking us out of our game," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said. "We had a difficult time making adjustments to shut them down offensively."
Sophomore goalkeeper Emily White fended off Maryland's initial attack when the Terrapins' Autumn Welsh was unable to put a penalty stroke past White in the first five minutes of the game. Maryland's Megan Kelly and Colleen Barbieri broke the scoreless tie, however, with unassisted goals, and Barbieri found Carissa Messimer for a third goal and a 3-0 lead at the half. Welsh avenged her earlier missed opportunity with 16 minutes, 29 seconds to play in the second half by putting a penalty stroke past White to cap off Maryland's scoring for the day.
Virginia managed to get on the board with a little under six minutes left in the game when Coleman beat Maryland's Sara Silvetti in a foot race to a loose ball downfield, drew the Maryland keeper out of the cage and put the ball in.
The Cavaliers played a more cohesive game against Duke on Thursday, according to Virginia co-captain Mason White.
"Against Maryland, we let them play their game. We were on defense for the majority of the game and didn't generate much attack," White said. "Against Duke, everyone was working as a unit, working together."
Virginia already had beaten the Blue Devils twice during the regular season and had little trouble holding Duke scoreless for 69 minutes. Duke managed to get on the board when it converted a penalty corner in the last minute of the game.
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Katie Nicholson put Virginia on the board against the Blue Devils with 14:22 left in the first half. Senior co-captain Carrie Goodloe notched the second goal of the evening on a corner with the help of fellow captain Jessie Coleman and sophomore Katie Jo Gerfen. Goodloe's score put Virginia up, 2-0, with 32 minutes to play in the game. Virginia earned its final goal of the game with 2:34 left to play when Coleman and Cara Unterkofler took the ball downfield and Unterkofler tipped it in. Coleman earned her second assist of the game on the play.
Virginia is waiting for today's NCAA bid announcement and is focusing on what it will need to do to make a run for the national title should it get an invitation.
"We need to figure out how to compete," White said. "We need to figure out what our strengths are as a team and put them together."
The Cavaliers will find out tonight at 6 p.m. whether they will be playing hockey come first-round action Saturday.
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