It was a fairly cool September night, but the heat of the in-state rivalry lived up to its billing. Virginia's field hockey team (6-5) had yet another game decided by one goal against William & Mary (6-4).By the time the clock ticked down to triple zeros, it was Virginia on the losing end, 5-4, to the Tribe.
"This is exactly the type of game we expected in terms of the toughness," Virginia coach Jessica Wilk said. "We knew it was going to be a battle. I thought we came out very well but we didn't sustain it. We didn't play to our level throughout the whole 70 minutes."
After jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the first half, Virginia appeared to be cruising. By the fifth minute, the Cavaliers had struck first with a goal from freshman Abby Taylor.Within the next nine minutes, Virginia scored three times with goals from junior midfielder Katie Phillips and junior back Biffy Cornelison. Cornelison's goal went in after William & Mary goalie Heather Kibbee allowed a rebound on a shot from Phillips off a corner. The Virginia squad seemed aggressive and united in jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead.
"I thought we attacked very well in the first half," Wilk said. "We defended very well in the first half."
William & Mary's senior forward Ginny Sutton scored at 26:10, starting a 4-0 run that spanned both halves and pulled the Tribe into the lead.
Virginia was leading 3-1 at the break, but in the second half the Cavaliers lost the momentum that propelled them in the first half.
At 49:19, William & Mary junior back Diana Esposito's scored and about seven minutes later, she assisted on sophomore forward Gina Cimarelli's game-tying goal. Just 49 seconds later, the Tribe scored again when junior midfielder Shannon Karl fed sophomore forward Kelly Giles for the go-ahead goal.
Virginia stormed back when Phillips scored her second goal of the night with about nine minutes left. But William & Mary scored what proved to be the game-winner with 1:57 left on Giles' second goal. She finished with two goals and an assist.
Virginia's play in the second half differed from its aggressive first half.
"In the second half we got a little complacent, and we got away from our game plan," Wilk said. "We let it get away from us."
Though Virginia outshot the Tribe 18-15 and led them in corners 6-3, they could not close out the win.
"It was definitely a very frustrating game," Phillips said. "They are a really emotional team and they fought back. I think we played really great 10-minute segments.We just didn't put it all together. We had mental lapses."
Virginia will take on current No. 1 Maryland on Saturday in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers hope to pull off a win against the sixth of seven currently ranked opponents they will face. Versus the first five, Virginia is 1-4.
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