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Aug. 24, 2007
The Virginia field hockey team will open its 2007 season with a game against No. 7 Penn State on Sunday, Aug. 26. The No. 8 Cavaliers host the Nittany Lions at noon at University Hall Turf Field. The game is the second one of the season for Penn State, who plays Old Dominion in Norfolk on Saturday, Aug. 25.
The Cavaliers are coming off a 2006 campaign that saw the squad advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time since 2001 and reach No. 4 in the rankings, accomplishments that helped earn significant honors for the program. Third-year Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn was named a first team All-American; Traci Ragukas was named to the National All-Rookie Squad, and Virginia coach Michele Madison was named the National Coach of the Year.
The 2007 Cavaliers include a host of experienced veterans, including Kaars Sijpesteijn and Ragukas, and a bevy of talent in the first-year class. The Hoos welcome a Penn State team that also advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2006. Sunday’s game will be the first time these two have met since 2000, when the Nittany Lions won 3-1 in Saint Louis at the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Penn State last came to Charlottesville in 1997 for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championships; the Cavaliers prevailed in the quarterfinals 4-2 to advance to the NCAA semifinals for the first time in school history.
While Penn State is a relatively new opponent for the Cavaliers after a long break in a series that started in 1980, Virginia’s coaching staff is very familiar with the Big Ten school. Madison and assistant Alex Kyser and Christina Kirkaldy all came to Virginia from Michigan State, where they faced the Nittany Lions on a yearly basis.
Sunday’s game is the first of two games at home for the Cavaliers in the first week of the regular season; Virginia also hosts in-state rival Richmond on Thursday, Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. The Virginia-Penn State game can be watched on-demand at ACCSelect.com.