No. 5 Virginia Plays Saturday at No. 22 Duke
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| No. 7 Virginia (14-3, 3-1 ACC) at No. 22 Duke (7-9, 0-4 ACC) |
Date and Time Saturday, Oct. 27, 1 p.m. Location Durham, N.C. | Jack Katz Stadium
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Oct. 24, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 7 Virginia field hockey team (14-3, 3-1 ACC) faces No. 22 Duke (7-9, 0-4 ACC) on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m. in Durham, N.C. Live video streaming of the game will be available through the Duke website with a pid premium subscription fee.
Despite shutting out No. 25 Wake Forest, 4-0, last week, the Cavaliers fell two spots in the Penn Monto /NFHCA Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 7 with Penn State and Maryland moving into fifth and sixth place. Duke is ranked 22nd in this week’s poll. The Blue Devils are the fourth of five ranked opponents the Cavaliers will play to close out the 2012 regular season with Virginia hosting No. 2 Princeton on Monday, Oct. 29 in Charlottesville as the regular-season finale.
Virginia, who faced North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Oct. 13, will be playing in the Research Triangle region for the second time in two weeks. With the ACC Tournament taking place in Chapel Hill Nov. 1-4, the Cavaliers will travel down to North Carolina three times in a four-week span.
The Virginia/Duke game will be the final regular-season ACC game on the conference schedule. Win or lose, the Cavaliers are anticipated to be the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament. If the Cavaliers win at Duke, they will finish alone in second place in the conference standings with North Carolina having already finished conference play with a 5-0 record. If the Cavaliers lose, they will tie for second with Maryland, but Virginia owns the tiebreaker against the Terrapins with its 3-2 victory in the head-to-head matchup. The top two seeds earn a first-round bye and will play in the semifinal games on Friday, Nov. 2. The No. 2 seed will play the winner of the No. 6 vs. No. 3 game at 3:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised on the ACC Regional Sports Networks. The official bracket for the tournament will be announced by the ACC no later than Monday, Oct. 29.
The Cavaliers closed out the 2011 regular season with a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Blue Devils, winning on penalty strokes after the two teams ended double overtime tied at two. Duke ended Virginia’s season five days later when the Cavaliers fell to the Blue Devils, 3-2, in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Virginia holds a 30-16 advantage in the all-time series.
Virginia head coach Michele Madison is approaching another career milestone. Madison, who won the 300th game of her head coaching career earlier this season, comes into the game with a record of 98-50 as the Cavalier head coach. She needs two more wins to become the third head coach in program history to win 100 games at Virginia. The 100 victories would also tie her with Jane Miller (1983-91) for second most career victories at UVa. Linda Southworth (1975-82) is the winningest coach in the program’s history with 118 wins in eight seasons.
Paige Selenksi (R-Sr., Shavertown, Pa.) comes into the game two points shy of tying the Virginia career points record. Selenski has 228 points in her career, trailing only Meredith Thorpe (1995-98, 230 careers points). Selenski is also approaching the all-time goals mark. She has scored 96 goals in her career, five shy of tying Thorpe’s record of 101. Selenski’s 67 points this season rank sixth on Virgina’s single-season points list. Her 23 goals rank eighth. Her career best marks were 62 points in 2009 and 2010 and 27 goals in those same two seasons.
Selenski leads the ACC in points (57), points-per-game (3.56, third in the national rankings), goals (23), goals-per-game (1.44, fourth in the national rankings), shots (95) and shots-per-game (5.94). She is third in the ACC and 13th in the national rankings in assists-per-game (0.69). Selenski’s six game-winners this season also pace the conference.
Elly Buckley (Jr., Scarborough Perth, Australia) is third in the ACC and 11th in the nation in goals-per-game (0.88) as well as ranking fourth in the ACC and 13th in the national rankings in points-per-game (2.12). She also leads the ACC with four defensive saves.
Rachel Sumfest (So., Lewisburg, Pa.) is fifth in the ACC and 30th in the national rankings in points-per-game (0.76). Michelle Vittese’s (R-Sr., Cherry Hill, N.J.) inclusion in the national rankings gives the Cavaliers four players in the top-50 in the country in points-per-game. Vittese is averaging 1.56 points-per-game, ranking 46th overall and ninth in the ACC.
The Cavaliers have one final regular-season home game, hosting No. 2 Princeton on Monday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. on Turf Field. The game will be the annual Senior Day celebration with seniors Amanda Crider, Britt Knouse, Paige Selenski, Michelle Vittese, and Phoebe Willis all being honored in a ceremony after the game. Admission is free for all 2012 regular-season home games played at Turf Field.