“We are all disappointed on how the weekend played out,” Hardin said. “Our execution in multiple phases was inconsistent, however, it’s not for lack of effort or intent by the team and the staff."
Now-empty spots demand to be filled by capable transfers who can fulfill, or exceed, the role vacated by the previous Cavaliers.
This meet showed consistent improvement across both the distance and the thrower contingents, and proved that they will be a strength for Virginia as the team heads into the championship season.
Virginia will next play in May's NCAA Tournament.
“The conversation starts and ends today with Harrison Didawick,” Pollard said. “He’s the heart and soul of this group. He’s unbelievably tough. He played great defense and came up with clutch hits.”
“I couldn’t be any happier with my men, the fight back,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “And just unfortunately, how that final one went in off the rebound.”
The Cavaliers beat Wake Forest to reach last season's ACC Championship game. This time, the two powerhouses will meet in the final.
The Cavaliers have the opportunity to get a much needed win Sunday at 12:00 p.m. against Clemson to prevent the sweep and gain back some confidence.
The Cavaliers will face the Wolfpack in Sunday's final
“The overall performance in all phases was disappointing tonight,” Hardin said. “I know we’re capable of more than we showed and I know our team believes the same."
The Cavaliers will face No. 24 Notre Dame in the semifinals Saturday.
The Cavaliers had bested Stanford less than two weeks prior, and did so again.
“Coach Pollard says always just take today with a grain of salt and come back with amnesia,” Johnson said. “Tomorrow’s a new day, so just compete as hard as we can just get that win.”
Since Virginia women’s basketball decided to part ways with Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, the program currently finds itself in a state of flux ahead of the 2026-27 season.
“The hardest part is handling success,” Elliott said. “We have to go create this team's identity … We got to start over, we got to double down on our core values and we got to create an identity for this team based off of the foundation that's been laid from a program standpoint."
“The ejection had nothing to do with whether or not that was an infield fly or not,” Pollard said postgame. “I am always going to protect our players and coaches when somebody is verbally abusing them.”
Goalkeeper Elyse Finnelle played a pivotal part in securing the rivalry clash, saving three shot attempts from the Hokies in the concluding two minutes.
For Chang, it is his second straight individual title after winning the Calusa Cup last week. The graduate student, a one-time Virginia club player, has vaulted himself into the ranks of the nation’s best this year and his performance will prove vital to the Cavaliers’ national championship hopes in the coming weeks.
Virginia was not even out-hit, with the hit total actually ending at 12-9 in favor of the Cavaliers. However, the timeliness of those hits as well as some free passes allowed for the Rams to reap the full benefits of its success relative to their Commonwealth counterparts.
“This is going to be a sustained excellence program,” Roussell said. “How we go about things, how we handle ourselves, the perception of our women's basketball program will matter.”
