No. 8 Virginia Opens Season Friday at Temple

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Date and Time Friday, Aug. 24, 4 p.m. Location Philadelphia, Pa. | Geasey Field
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Aug. 23, 2012

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 8 Virginia field hockey team begins the 2012 regular season on Friday, Aug. 24, taking on the Temple Owls at 4 p.m. in Philadelphia, Pa.

Virginia starts the 2012 season as a top-10 team, garnering three first-place votes and 539 total points, putting them in eighth place in the 2012 Penn Monto/ NFHCA Division I preseason coaches poll.

The Wahoos are led by a trio of All-Americans: Paige Selenski (R-Sr., Shavertown, Pa.), Michelle Vittese (R-Sr., Cherry Hill, N.J.) and Elly Buckley (Jr., Scarborough Perth, Australia). Overall, the Cavaliers return nine starters and 18 letterwinners from the 2011 season, not including Selenksi and Vittese who redshirted last season to play for the US National team. The returning players accounted for 98 percent of the team’s goals last season, 96 percent of the team’s points, and all but five of the team’s saves. Vittese and Selenski combined to score 31 goals during their last season with the Cavaliers (2010).

Selenski enters the season with 171 career points. She need two points to tie for second on the Cavalier career point list (173, Cindy Carzo, 1976-79) and 59 points to tie Meredith Thorpe (1995-98) as the all-time points leader at 230. Selenski is also in third place on the career goals list with 73, needing 11 to move into a tie for second (84, Cindy Carzo, 1976-79).

Buckley is also poised to enter the career top-ten lists in three categories. She has 92 career points (four shy of tying for tenth with Lorraine Vizzuso, 96, 1997-2000), 36 career goals (two shy of tying for tenth with Lorraine Vizzuso, 38, 1997-2000), and 20 assists (five shy of tying for tenth with Selenski, 25).

Virginia starts the season on a road trip that began on Tuesday, Aug. 21, with a 3-1 loss in an exhibition game against the US Under-21 National Team. In the scrimmage, played at Maryland, freshman Taylor Brown (Charlottesville, Va.) scored the lone goal for the Wahoos. Selenski led the squad with four shots.

The Cavaliers take on Temple in the season-opener on Friday, Aug. 24 at 4 p.m.

Virginia head coach Michele Madison began her head coaching career at Temple, coaching the Owls for four seasons with three NCAA Tournament appearances.

This is just the second time that the two schools have faced one another. They last met in 1993 with the Owls winning, 3-2, in a neutral site contest.

Live Stats will be available through the Temple website.