No. 4 Virginia Faces Two Ranked Teams in New York

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Date and Time Saturday, Oct. 5, 1 p.m. || Sunday, Oct. 6, 2 p.m. Location J.S. Coyne Field, Syracuse, N.Y. | | Alumni Field, Albany, N.Y.
Media Syracuse Live Stats | Albany Live Stats Additional Information 2013 Season Stats | Season Preview | 2013 Record Book (.pdf)
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Oct. 4, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 4 Virginia field hockey team (12-1, 1-1) plays back-to-back games against ranked teams, facing No. 5 Syracuse (8-1, 0-1 ACC) in an Atlantic Coast Conference contest on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. and No. 12 Albany (9-1) in non-conference action on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.

Note:The game time of the Syracuse contest has been changed to 1 p.m. from its previously-published 12 p.m. start time.

Syracuse has only lost one game this season, falling 6-3 at then-No. 17 Boston College. The Cavaliers will be the fourth-straight ranked opponent for the Orange, who bounced back from the loss at BC with victories over then No. 6 Princeton, 4-0, and current No. 6 Stanford, 3-0.

The Orange currently rides a 39-game home winning streak dating back to 2009. The Orange is off to a 3-0 start at home this season. Last season, SU went 8-0 at home and outscored its opponents, 34-7. In 2011, Syracuse went 13-0 at home and outscored the opposition, 65-9. SU’s last home loss was on Sept. 6, 2009 vs. No. 7 Princeton, 3-2, in overtime. The Orange has now been ranked in the top 10 of the NFHCA poll for 57-straight weeks, dating back to Aug. 28, 2008.

Virginia is 2-0 all-time against Syracuse. This is the first-ever meeting for the teams as conference opponents. The two teams last met in 2010 in a neutral-site game in Norfolk. Senior Elly Buckley (Scarborough, Perth, Australia), who was a freshman at the time, scored a goal in the fourth minute of overtime to give Virginia a 2-1 victory.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Virginia and Albany. The Great Danes dropped one spot in the NFHCA poll this week after losing a physical game to No. 6 Stanford 2-1 last Sunday, ending a nine-game unbeaten streak.

Despite the loss, UAlbany continues to rank among the nation’s leaders in several categories. The Great Danes are first in scoring margin (3.90) and goals against average (0.80), second in points per game (13.10), scoring average (4.70) and assists per game (3.70), and fourth in penalty corners (10.00).

Senior Daphne Voormolen ranks fifth in the nation in points per game (2.80) and goals per game (1.20). The forward scored five goals last week in a 9-0 win against Sacred Heart to set a Division I program single-game record. Voormolen has scored 45 goals in her career to top all Division I Great Danes and rank second all-time in career goals scored.

Albany will play at Maine on Saturday before hosting Virginia on Sunday.

Virginia comes into the weekend having shutout its last three opponents, earning a 3-0 ACC victory at No. 15 Wake Forest before blanking Liberty (2-0) and Radford (5-0).

Before the Radford victory, Virginia came into the week ranked No. 8 among all NCAA Division I teams averaging 3.5 goals per game and sixth with a 1.05 goals-against average, giving them the fourth-best scoring margin in the nation (+2.33), with that mark improving to +2.62 after the Radford victory.

In the last eight games, junior goalkeeper Jenny Johnstone (Paisley, Scotland) is allowing 0.50 goals per game, with five shutouts. Johnstone, who has played every second in goal for the Cavaliers this season, began the week ranked sixth in the country with a 1.05 goals-against average and 10th with a .803 save percentage.

Junior Kelsey LeBlanc (Haverford, Pa.) logged a defensive save on Friday night at Wake Forest. It was the eighth time this season a Virginia player was credited with a defensive save, ranking the Cavaliers third in the nation in defensive saves and helping to raise the team save percentage to .824, fourth-best in the NCAA.

In the three games last week, Buckley scored six goals with an assist, finding the net twice in each game. Buckley currently ranks third in the NCAA in points per game (3.92) and goals per game (1.25). Buckley leads the ACC in every offensive category except assists and assists per game, pacing the conference in game-winning goals (4), shots (86) and shots per game (7.17) in addition to goals and points.

Buckley has taken 49 more shots than Nina Notman of North Carolina, who ranks second in the conference in that statistic. Freshman Caleigh Foust (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) is third with 36 shots.

Buckley added two goals and an assist Tuesday night against Radford, moving her into a tie for third place on the Virginia career points list with Cindy Carzo (1976-79) with 173. Buckley is 57 points behind Meredith Thorpe (1995-98) who is in second place and 65 point behind record-holder Paige Selenski (2008-10, 12). Buckley is now in fourth on the Virginia career goals list at 70. Carzo is in third place on the career goals list with 84.

Freshman midfielder Lucy Hyams (Whitstable, Kent, England) had three assists last Wednesday against James Madison. Hyams also had an assist at Wake Forest and another on Sunday at Liberty, giving her five in the week and six total for the season. Hyams, who scored a goal on Tuesday against Radford, also has five goals this season, giving her 16 points so far in her rookie campaign.

Hyams is one of three freshmen on the team with double-digit points. Foust has 18 points (nine goals) and Riley Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.) has 16 points (eight goals). Freshman Katie Kelly (Phoenixville, Pa.) scored her first collegiate goal against Radford, which also ended up being the game-winner.

Virginia returns home on Friday, Oct. 11 when it hosts No. 9 Boston College at 6 p.m. Admission is free for all 2013 Virginia field hockey regular-season home games played at Turf Field.