No. 4 Field Hockey Prepares for tough week.
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September 23, 1998
Current Record: 6-1
Current rank :4 (NFHCA)
GAME 6: #1 Virginia 6, Richmond 1
The Cavalier defense held Richmond to two shots and capitalized on a hat trick by senior All-American Meridith Thorpe (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs) to defeat the Richmond Spiders 6-1 today in Richmond. Meredith Elwell (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown)s goal in the second half gave her 40 goals and 20 assists for her career, giving her an even 100 points in her career. Virginia jumped on the board early with conversions of two penalty corners in the first six minutes of play. Thorpe hit the first one just four minutes into the game, and senior All-American Lori Mastropietro (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock) struck the second one. Senior All-American Michelle Vizzuso (Fairfield, N.J./West Essex) assisted on the first score while her sister Lorraine assisted on the second. Laura Lindsay (Deerfield, Mass./Deerfield Academy) was credited with an assist on both scores. The Cavaliers went up 3-0 as junior Natalie Crane (San Diego, Calif./Serra) redirected a pass from Michelle Vizzuso into the goal with 8:26 remaining in the half. Richmond scored with 50 seconds to go in the half as Anna Larson lifted a mishandled corner play into the cage to break up the Cavaliers shutout streak.
The Virginia offense and defense came out strong in the second half as Thorpe scored her second goal off a pass from Melissa Hayes (Chevy Chase, Md./Georgetown Visitation) just six minutes into the second stanza. Ten minutes later Elwell scored after dribbling through the Richmond defense, giving her her 100th career point. Thorpe closed out the scoring as she put a touch pass from Michelle Vizzuso in the cage with just over one minute remaining. Carrie Goodloe (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs) also was credited with an assist on the last goal. Cavalier goalie Becky Worthington (Fairview Village, Pa./Methacton), who started in the cage and made way for Ellen Wiese (Burke, Va./Lake Braddock) in the second half. Wiese saved the only Spider shot in the second half.
GAME 7: #2 North Carolina 3, #1 Virginia 0 –North Carolina’s Kristen McCann scored twice off her own rebounds in the second half to lead the Tar Heels to the upset over the top-ranked Cavaliers. North Carolina, who had lost on Saturday to third-ranked Old Dominion 4-3, capitalized on its only penalty corner of the game to net the game-winner in the first half. With the win, the Tar Heels improve to 5-1 while the Cavaliers fall to 6-1.
North Carolina’s Jana Toepel netted the winner 12 minutes into the contest as her shot on the corner was deflected into the Cavalier net. North Carolina led at halftime 1-0. Virginia had seven penalty corners in the second half while denying North Carolina any corners, but McCanns two goals iced the game for the Tar Heels.
Individual Notes:
100 A+: Meredith Elwells goal against Richmond gave her 40 goals for her career, which ranks her 5th all-time at Virginia in that catagory. With the score, she now has an even 100 points for her career–40 goals and 20 assists. She is only the fifth person in school history to record 20+ goals and assists in a career. Her 100 points ranks her sixth all-time at Virginia.
Bicentennial game: The Cavaliers won their 200th game at home with a 5-3 defeat of Northeastern. Virginia holds a 151-45-6 record at home following the Northeastern, UMass, and App. State games over the weekend. In fact, Virginia has won 23 consecutive games at home against out-of-state, non-conference opponents.
Thorpe ticker: Meridith Thorpe, Virginias career scoring leader, ranks third in the ACC in scoring with 199 points and second all-time in goals scored with 89. Only Dukes Melissa Panasci has more goals scored (91). Panasci also has 200 points and the all-time ACC leader Cindy Werley (UNC) has 212 points (84-44-212).
On the Horizon
CAA Week:
Dukin it out: The Cavaliers face James Madison on Wednesday night at 7:30. It is the Cavaliers first trip to JMU since 1995, when the Cavs lost 2-3 in overtime to the then-defending NCAA Champions. Overall, the Cavaliers lead the series 21-8-1 and have won the last two games by a combined score of 10-2. James Madison is struggling without All-CAA Julie Martinez, having posted a 3-4 record this year. Six of those games, though, have been against top-20 teams. JMU has lost in Charlottesville already this year, having lost to Massachusetts in a game hosted by UVa earlier in the season.
Managing the Monarchs: Virginia concludes its tough road trip with a game at top-ranked Old Dominion. The seven-time national champions are tough once again, having defeated the Cavaliers twice last year, including 3-2 in the national semifinals. After losing 11 consecutive games between 1985-1994, this years senior class holds a 2-3 record against the Monarchs. The last time the Cavaliers travelled to Norfolk, Virginia came out with a 4-0 victory, ODUs worst home defeat in the Beth Anders era. ODU shows promise this year again, having defeated UNC 4-3 in Chapel Hill and defeating four other top-20 teams in Duke, James Madison, American and Ball State by a combined score of 26-3.