No. 5 Virginia Plays at No. 1 Maryland Friday
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| No. 5 Virginia (15-3, 3-2 ACC) at No. 1 Maryland (15-1, 4-0 ACC) |
Date and Time Friday, Oct. 25, 6 p.m. Location College Park, Md. | Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex
Media GameTracker | Live Streaming Video ($) Additional Information 2013 Season Stats | Season Preview | 2013 Record Book (.pdf)
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Oct. 24, 2013
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia field hockey team (15-3, 3-2 ACC) finishes the regular season on Friday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. when it plays at No. 1 Maryland (15-1, 4-0 ACC).
Admission is free and parking is free after 4 p.m. It will also be the Terrapins annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness. Paid premium access streaming video will be available for the game through the Terrapins’ website.
The Maryland game will be the Cavaliers’ tenth game this season against an opponent ranked in the top-20 and the seventh time facing a top-10 team. It will also be the second time this season Virginia has faced a team No. 1 team with Virginia falling 2-1 to then-top-ranked North Carolina on Sept. 20.
Virginia’s only victory over a team ranked No. 1 was Sept. 30, 2001, when the No. 11 Cavaliers defeated Maryland, 3-2, on strokes. The Cavaliers have come close on several other occasions, including twice losing by a goal during the 2010 season, falling 3-2 to North Carolina and 2-1 in overtime to Maryland. In 2008, UVa lost twice in overtime to Maryland, falling 4-3 in the regular season and 3-2 in the ACC Tournament.
The Terrapins lead the all-time series, 38-20-2. The schools split their two meetings in 2012. Virginia won the first, 3-2, in Charlottesville last Sept. 28 with back-to-back second-half goals from Michelle Vittese and Paige Selenski making the difference in the game. Maryland eliminated Virginia in the second round of the 2012 ACC Tournament with a 5-1 victory, the last meeting between the two teams.
Maryland is No. 1 in both the latest Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I National Coaches poll and in the NCAA’s RPI rankings released Oct. 22. The Terps have been No. 1 in both for the last month and are 8-0 vs. top 10 teams and 9-1 against top-20 squads. Maryland’s only loss this season came last Sunday when No. 15 Old Dominion held off a late Terp rally to earn a 3-2 upset victory.
After defeating No. 8 Duke, 4-3, the Cavaliers climbed one spot to No. 5 in this week’s Penn Monto/NFHCA poll. The Cavaliers are ranked third in the latest NCAA RPI rankings, trailing only Maryland and Syracuse.
Senior Elly Buckley (Scarborough, Perth, Australia) earned her second ACC Player of the Week honors after scoring a hat trick in last Friday’s game against Duke. With the three goals, Buckley is now alone in third place in the Cavalier record book with 179 career points, passing Cindy Carzo (1976-79, 173 points).
In the Duke game, Buckley also added her ACC-leading fifth defensive save of the season. Buckley currently leads the conference in seven different statistical categories including goals (20) and points (46). Buckley is ranked fifth in the NCAA in points per game, averaging 2.56 per contest, and sixth with 1.11 goals per game.
Freshman Lucy Hyams (Whitstable, Kent, England) added three assists in the Duke game, including setting up two of Buckley’s goals. Hyams is 28th in the NCAA, averaging 0.56 assists per game. Hyams is tied for second on the Cavaliers with 20 points (five goals, 10 assists). Fellow freshman Riley Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.) also has 20 points on 10 goals.
Junior goalkeeper Jenny Johnstone (Paisley, Scotland) is ranked 12th in the NCAA with a 1.23 goals-against average. Johnstone’s .833 win-loss percentage this season is fourth-best among all NCAA Division I goalies.
After the Maryland game, Virginia will have a bye week before heading to Newton, Mass., for the ACC Tournament, being held Nov. 7-10 at Boston College.