The No. 8 Virginia field hockey team will seek to protect an undefeated home record when it takes on in-state rival Virginia Commonwealth tonight at 6 p.m. at the University Hall Turf Field.
The Cavaliers (6-1) will look to ride the momentum of their two victories over the weekend against Kent State and No. 15 Louisville. Four different Cavaliers were able to get on the board on the weekend, including senior midfielder Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn, who was able to tally a goal in both games, earning a spot on the womensfieldhockey.com honor roll.
The Rams (4-2) split their weekend games, losing 2-0 to St. Joseph’s and then bouncing back to defeat Penn 3-1. The Cavaliers won the last meeting between the two teams 3-1 last year, and VCU, in fact, has yet to win a game against the Cavaliers, posting an 0-27 record all-time against Virginia. This season, however, VCU senior goalkeeper Laura Baker leads a goalkeeping corps that ranks 14th in the nation in save percentage (.787), whereas Virginia goalkeepers sophomore Devon Burnley and senior Amy Desjadon rank 25th (.750).
“In history we are the better team,” Sijpesteijn said. “When we start the game it is 0-0 and from then on we play our system.”
The Cavaliers do not plan to look past this game even though VCU has been overmatched in the past.
“You get ready for every game the exact same, no matter who you are playing,” junior forward Lauren Elstein said. “It doesn’t matter if you are playing the best in the country or the worst, you still have to run your system.”
In other words, Virginia will be ready to play tonight.
“Every day they get better,” Virginia coach Michele Madison said. “The great thing is they keep asking questions. They are never happy with anything; they always want to make it better, and that is a good sign.”
Already, the Cavaliers boast one of the best offenses in the country; they are currently ranked in the top 10 for goals per game and assists per game. Virginia out-scores opponents by an average of more than 2.5 goals per game this season and has outscored its opponents 26-8 overall. Ten Cavaliers have scored on the year, with freshman forward/midfielder Paige Selenski leading the way with five goals. Junior forward Traci Raguskas and freshman midfielder/forward Michelle Vittese have each added four goals.
This year’s Cavalier squad is arguably the best team Virginia has fielded since 1998, when coach Missi Sanders led the team to an 18-5 record and the NCAA semifinals, where they lost to Old Dominion 3-0.
When Madison was asked if this is her best team at Virginia, she responded “yes.”
“We just have a lot more strengths, let’s put it that way,” she added. “The players who were here; Inge [Kaars Sijpesteijn] and [senior midfielder] Lucy [Meyers], they know how the system works. The young ones stepped in and learned [the system] fast.”
The Cavaliers conclude their home stand this weekend with a game against Ohio University Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Turf Field. The team will then hit the road, playing six of its remaining 10 games outside of Charlottesville. Virginia’s toughest competition on the schedule is yet to come; the Cavaliers have five top-10 teams left to play on their schedule, with notable home games against No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 2 Maryland.
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