RICHMOND, Va. -- The No. 10 Virginia field hockey team traveled to face in-state rival Richmond yesterday, but the lifeless Cavaliers were defeated as a substitute freshman scored the winning goal in Richmond's 2-1 victory.
The score in the contest came with just under five minutes remaining when Richmond midfielder Shannon Taylor moved up the left baseline toward the Cavalier cage. Taylor fired off a shot just ahead of Virginia goalkeeper Logan Carr, and the ball pounded against the opposite right corner to lead the Spiders to the win.
"I know that [Virginia] has become a rivalry for us," Richmond coach Ange Bradley said. "It was an important game for us to win."
The only Virginia goal came with 21:36 remaining in the contest. On the left side of the cage, freshman midfielder Megan Ponessa lifted the ball toward junior forward Lindsey Selfridge, who centered the ball in the circle. Selfridge then dished the ball to sophomore Mia Link, who weaved around the right of Richmond goalkeeper Michelle Swartz for the goal.
Link's goal was the only shot for the Cavaliers in the final 35 minutes of play.
Richmond pounded the Cavalier defense through the evening, but Virginia goalkeeper Logan Carr stepped up to the task, allowing just two goals while registering 14 saves.
"I thought [Logan] had a great game," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said. "I thought she kept us in it, particularly in the first half when we really played pretty poorly. She kept us in the ballgame and gave us a chance to compete and try to win it in the second half."
But other Cavalier defenders struggled individually, allowing too much space between themselves and the Spider offense, giving their opponents the advantage.
"[Logan] did a good job today," senior back Katie Jo Gerfen said. "But the ball should have never gotten back that far -- our individual defense just broke down today."
For the first 20 minutes of play, the Cavalier tandem of Gerfen and junior midfielder Dana Anderson shut down Richmond's leading scorers Whitney Wells and Holly Cram. But with 14 minutes remaining in the first half, Anderson was injured on a Richmond penalty corner and spent the rest of the afternoon with her left shin covered in ice and resting on a water cooler.
"Experience wise, we missed [Dana]," Gerfen said. "But we are pretty deep on the bench, and I think that we did what we could."
Overall, the Virginia offense totaled just seven shots and three penalty corners. In comparison, Richmond had 28 shots, with 16 on the goal.
The game was Virginia's third major challenge of the season. The Cavaliers lost to No. 1 Michigan State earlier in the season. Last weekend, Virginia succeeded in its second attempt against a ranked opponent by beating No. 12 Boston College. With a loss against the Spiders, Virginia dropped under .500 against ranked opponents and will certainly fall from their top-10 national ranking.
"Clearly this is a big in-state rivalry," coach Wilk said. "But we are just coming up on the wrong end of it, and that is tremendously disappointing."
The Cavaliers travel to North Carolina Sunday to face the No. 3 Tar Heels, the fourth in a seemingly endless lineup of ranked opponents.
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