As exposed numerous times in the world of sports, the postseason is a completely different ballgame than everything that comes before.
In 2000, the Cavalier field hockey team finished 12-6 at the end of regular season play and 14-8 overall on the year. That squad, just the second in coach Jessica Wilk's career at Virginia, had lost games to North Carolina twice, as well as Old Dominion, Maryland and Wake Forest.
That upstart Virginia team, however, went on to upset Duke and North Carolina in the ACC tournament before losing to Maryland in the conference championship.
This year, the Cavaliers finished 10-9 in the regular season, with five of those losses by a one-goal margin. Virginia has again lost to North Carolina twice, as well as Old Dominion, Maryland and Wake Forest.
No. 16 Virginia (10-9, 0-4 ACC) will face No. 1 Wake Forest (15-2, 2-2) today in the first round game of the ACC tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C. Though the Cavaliers have not defeated the Deacons since 1998, their 2004 3-2 loss to Wake was the narrowest margin since -- you guessed it -- 2000.
"We are very excited that we get to play Wake Forest again because we believe that we are a good match against them," sophomore back Erin Hayes said. "We played one of our best games against them."
Five teams compete in the ACC -- Wake Forest, North Carolina, Duke, Maryland and Virginia -- all of whom are ranked in the top 20 nationally. In fact, aside from the Cavaliers, the other four teams hold the top four spots in the country. This afternoon, Wake and Virginia will compete and the winner will challenge North Carolina in one of Friday's semifinals.
"Recently we have been the odd man out in the ACC," Hayes said. "This year we just want to clear that up a bit. We are good and we do have a chance."
The Cavaliers battled with each of the teams in the lower bracket at the end of the regular season, falling by a margin of one goal in each contest.
"Our games against Duke, UNC and Wake have all shown us that we have the ability to really attack these teams while shutting down their offense," junior midfielder Allison Flynn said. "We have been working on playing at a high-level consistently and not allowing two or three gaps in our play that allow other teams to get ahead."
This week Virginia will attempt to snap a 14-game conference losing streak, including the postseason, dating back to 2002.
"Having already played these teams we know what style they play, their tendencies, and we are familiar with our marks," sophomore forward Biffy Cornelison said. "This has definitely helped prepare us for the upcoming games -- now we know what to expect and what we need to fix in order to come out on top."
When the Cavaliers defeated Duke in overtime in 2000, 2004 red-shirt seniors Katie Jo Gerfen and Julianne Bojanic were freshmen. Virginia's play against Wake on Thursday will reveal whether the 2004 Cavaliers can parallel 2000 with Gerfen and Bojanic, both now starters, as connections.
If a postseason upset is in the works, then this Cavalier field hockey squad will prove that they are much better than their record shows. If it is not, then the conference winless streak continues on for another year.
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