Back-to-back NCAA appearances for the Virginia women’s field hockey team under coach Michele Madison may be twice as nice, but three might spell dynasty. Madison is the only coach in collegiate field hockey history to take three different teams to the NCAA Tournament. Now, in her third year at Virginia, Madison returns her entire coaching staff and returns a core of veteran players invested in a successful system.
”She is an amazing coach,” senior Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn said. “She knows mentally how to hit the right spots.”
Madison’s returning core consists of five upperclassmen and 15 underclassmen. Among the returning upperclassmen are All-American senior Sijpesteijn and senior Lucy Meyers, who are expected to lead this young team. The Cavaliers also welcome back juniors Traci Ragukas, last season’s leading goal scorer, and Lauren Elstein. Many of the incoming freshmen will have to learn on their feet if the team is to be successful this season; however, many of the incoming freshmen already have international and outside experience.
“I don’t think we are behind the eight ball as far as lack of experience,” senior Amy Desjadon said. “We have two girls, freshman Paige Selenski and freshman Michelle Vittese, who were on the United States team. They picked the system pretty early, so I don’t feel like we are that inexperienced.”
Desjadon will use her invaluable experience as a fifth-year senior to communicate to the underclassmen and bring them up to speed. Virginia is no stranger to tough competition; once again the Cavaliers have a challenging schedule, with 10 of 19 opponents having made the NCAA Tournament last year. The tough schedule can be attributed in part to that fact that they also play in the toughest conference in the country, where five out the six teams in the conference made the NCAA Tournament last year.
“It’s the best field hockey in the country,” Madison said. “We don’t know when we are going to get to that national championship game, but when we get there we want to be ready, and the schedule is one way of getting us ready.”
The team looks to improve in the ACC after posting one win last year and two in the last five years.
“We used to be completely overlooked,” Desjadon said. ”I think the ACC has taken us seriously in the past couple of years.”
The Cavaliers’ non-conference schedule will prepare the team for its grueling ACC slate; the Cavaliers will see strong opponents such as Boston University and Iowa, who won the Big Ten last year. Such diversity will allow the Cavaliers to see varying styles of play.
“We will see different looks of hockey,” Madison said. “It challenges us to develop different areas of our game.”
The Cavaliers will be tested early by in-state rivals William & Mary, Old Dominion and James Madison within the first two weeks of the season. Despite the challenges ahead, the Cavaliers maintain an optimistic outlook.
“My expectations are high for this season,” Desjadon said. “I think we are miles ahead of where we were last year.”
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