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No. 3 Virginia Welcomes No. 2 North Carolina at 1 p.m. Saturday
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 3 Virginia field hockey team (14-1, 1-1 ACC) continues conference play against No. 2 North Carolina (14-0, 3-0 ACC) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the University Hall Turf Field. Live statistics will be available on VirginiaSports.com.
With a victory over Longwood (Oct. 13), the Cavaliers matched their win total from the 2008 campaign, which ended at 14-9.
Sophomore Paige Selenski is tied for the conference lead with 19 goals this season. Tara Puffenberger and Traci Ragukas have also contributed eight and seven scores, respectively. Selenski and Inga Stöckel also lead the Cavaliers with six assists apiece. In the cage, junior Kim Kastuk has an 0.69 goals against average and a .780 save percentage to go along with six shutouts.
Virginia is coming off a 7-0 victory at Longwood Tuesday night in Farmville, Va. Selenski recorded her second hat trick of the year (the first was against Ohio) and also contributed two assists. Ragukas also had a pair of goals while Stöckel notched a score and tallied three assists. Kaitlyn Hiltz recorded her second goal of the year against the Lancers.
No. 2 North Carolina, along with top-ranked Maryland, are the only two remaining undefeated teams. The Tar Heels boast a 3-0 conference record and are 8-0 against ranked opponents. UNC has also outscored opponents 67-3 this season.
Senior Melanie Brill leads North Carolina with 17 goals, while freshman Kelsey Kolgejchick has 13 scores. Junior Katelyn Falgowski, the only college player on the 2008 Olympic Team, leads the nation with her 19 assists, while also contributing six goals while anchoring the Tar Heel defense. Jackie Kintzer has an 0.27 goals against average and an .867 save percentage this season, but backup Brianna O’Donnell (0.18 GAA, .923 save percentage) was recently named the ACC Player of the Week for stepping in for the injured Kintzer.
UNC leads the all-time series with Virginia, 41-15, and has won the last three meetings. Last year, the Tar Heels captured a 3-0 victory in Chapel Hill. The last Cavalier victory was in head coach Michele Madison’s first year, a 2-1 win at UNC in 2006.