The Virginia field hockey team opens the 2008 campaign with things old and new.
Home games against long-time, in-state rival William & Mary at 2 p.m Friday and against Providence, an opponent the Cavaliers have not faced seen 1992, at 3:30 p.m Sunday at the Turf Field open another season in the young Virginia career of coach Michele Madison.
Though the NCAA Tournament sits on the far side of a demanding schedule, the No. 11 Cavaliers must not lose focus in either impassioned, in-state rivals or new, uncertain opponents if they wish to reach their goal of a third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Though the coaching staff has been a boon to the program, success requires talent and experience between the boxes, on both sides of the ball.
These tough first two games will be a good test for the Cavaliers with the added value of giving Madison a change to gauge how the Cavalier youth have adapted to college field hockey.
“The first game will be a test of wills and opportunity,” Madison said. “I imagine there will be mistakes on both sides of the ball, and the team that takes advantage of those mistakes will win.”
This youthful Cavalier team will look to its experienced upperclassmen to carry them through the weekend and remain unscathed in the first two games of a four-game homestand to start the season.
The Cavaliers return 12 lettermen from last season including two-time All-American senior back Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn, 2007 All-Region midfielder Traci Ragukas and 2007 All-Rookie team midfielder Shelly Edmonds. Ragukas and Sijpesteijn were first and second on the team in goals scored last season. This season’s squad includes a mix of ready talent and proven veterans that should continue the steady rise of Virginia field hockey in one of the toughest conferences in the country.
The Cavaliers welcome eight recruits to the team this year. The standouts of the recruiting class include United States junior national team members freshmen midfielders Paige Selenski and Michelle Vittese.
“My expectations are very high for the season,” senior Amy Desjadon. “The first-years we have coming in picked up the system very quickly.”
The Cavaliers are anxious to begin the season after months of hard work and inter-squad scrimmages.
“I am excited to get the season started,” Madison said. “We have been through nine months of hard work for three months of performances. After playing 25 sessions against each other in preseason, we are looking forward to playing against an opponent not in orange or blue.”
The Cavaliers will be tested in their non-conference slate in preparation for the grueling ACC schedule.
“We will see different looks of hockey,” Madison said. “We will see different styles of play. It challenges us to develop different areas of our game.”
At perhaps the beginning of a new long-distance rivalry Sunday, Virginia will face Providence, which finished with a 14-8 record last season. The Friars return 17 lettermen and look to be a formidable opponent for the young Cavaliers, having succeeded last season where Virginia could not, defeating Boston College 3-0 in Newton, Mass. The Cavaliers are 2-0 all-time against the Friars, and the last matchup resulted in a 2-1 Cavalier victory in two extra periods.
Friday’s match against William & Mary, which returns 15 lettermen, including six starters, from the team’s 9-10 season last year, will continue an I-64 showdown that will draw most of its excitement from the regional, rather than national, implications of its outcome. The Cavaliers will look to not only prove themselves, but also to show they are the dominant team in the commonwealth of Virginia.
In last year’s rendition of this historic in-state rivalry, the Cavaliers beat the Tribe 2-1, as now-senior Lucy Meyers led the way with two goals.
“Those games are never easy because everyone fights for in-state bragging rights,” Madison said. “All those games will be a battle because of that.”
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