Cavaliers Continue ACC Play at No. 3 Maryland

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia field hockey team (5-6, 0-1 ACC) continues Atlantic Coast Conference play with a matchup with No. 3 and 2010 NCAA champion Maryland (9-1, 2-0 ACC) at 5 p.m. Friday in College Park, Md. Live statistics will be linked on VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia returned home last weekend after a seven game road swing and split its two contests. UVa dropped a hard-fought battle to No. 6 Boston College in the conference opener, 5-4, in double overtime. The Cavaliers then rebounded to knock off Richmond 3-2.

Sophomore Elly Buckley secured two scores last weekend, adding on to her team-best seven goals. Classmate Carissa Vittese has recorded five goals while fellow sophomore Hadley Bell has three scores. Additionally, Buckley and freshman Jess Orrett have each notched four assists.

Maryland’s lone loss came to top-ranked Old Dominion, a 4-0 defeat earlier this season in Norfolk, Va. The Terrapins have won their last seven straight games and most recently beat Princeton 6-2 Tuesday night in College Park.

Sophomore Jill Witmer is Maryland’s leading scorer with 11 goals while senior Jemma Buckley, older sister of Virginia’s Elly Buckley, and freshman Katie Gerzabek have contributed eight goals and four assists apiece. Redshirt senior Melissa Vassalotti and sophomore Natalie Hunter have both split time in the cage for Maryland this season.

The Terps lead the all-time series with Virginia, 19-36-2. Maryland has claimed every meeting since the 2001 season, when the game went into penalty strokes and Virginia recorded a 3-2 win. Four of the last five meetings between the two have gone to overtime.