Yesterday was a familiar story for the field hockey team.
The story goes like this: Virginia faces off against a top-five opponent. Opponent takes control of the game from the beginning. Virginia faces flurry of shots from opponent, playing on the defensive side of the ball nearly all of the game. Virginia loses.
Sunday at Virginia Turf Field, such was the scenario again as No. 19 Virginia (9-8, 1-3) lost to No. 4 Wake Forest (14-2, 4-0) 2-0. But it just as easily could have been Virginia's Sept. 15 3-1 loss to James Madison or Sept. 29 11-0 loss to Old Dominion.
"I think it was a pretty sound beating by a very good team," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said.
Wake controlled from the outset, immediately pushing the ball into the Virginia circle. In the first two and a half minutes, Wake shot four times. Junior goalie Emily White, however, was up to the challenge, making four saves including a sprawling one to her left that prevented Wake from scoring on an open cage.
With 7:07 remaining, the Demon Deacons' Kelly Dostal, a sophomore forward, flicked in Wake's first goal on an assist from freshman midfielder Maeke Boreel. Less than two minutes later, the Deacons struck again on senior forward Heather Aughinbaugh's slap shot, sliding underneath a diving White. Aughinbaugh's goal ended the scoring for the game, putting Wake ahead to stay at 2-0.
"It's a clich
, but I didn't think we brought our 'A game' today, at all," Wilk said. "I don't think we stepped out ready to play. Wake is a very good team, and you can't afford to do that against a quality team."
By half, Wake had outshot the Cavaliers 18-1 and produced six corners to Virginia's one. The second half was more even-handed, with neither team generating serious scoring threats. Wake attempted seven shots but gained no corners. Virginia's second-half attack was virtually non-existent, producing no shots and no corners.
"I think we started slow and never really picked it up," Wilk said. "I feel like we were constantly on the defensive end and constantly reacting to what they were doing."
Both teams exhausted their thin benches in the up-tempo first half, which produced uneventful play after intermission. Wake only had five potential substitute fielders on its bench, and Virginia played with only four substitute fielders.
Virginia lost more of its already slim bench when early in the second half Katie Phillips pulled up lame as she sprinted after a loose ball, adding to the list of injuries for Virginia. The freshman forward joins juniors Katie Nicholson and Katie Jo Gerfen -- who has missed the entire season -- on the Virginia sideline with injuries. With Phillips out, the Cavaliers were forced to use freshman forward Sarah York, who has been playing sparingly since injuring her right knee a few weeks ago.
"We need to keep looking ahead," senior midfielder Kelli Hill said. "We really need to keep competing and keep fighting."
The Cavaliers will have their last chance of the regular season to compete and fight this upcoming weekend when they travel to Durham to play No. 12 Duke and No. 2 Michigan.
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