Virginia Field Hockey Hosts American in Exhibition Game on Thursday

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Aug. 20, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia field hockey team will host American in a preseason exhibition game on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 12 p.m. at Turf Field.

Admission is free for the exhibition game and all regular-season field hockey games at Turf Field. Gates will open one hour prior to the competition.

The Cavaliers, who were ranked as high as No. 4 last season, finished the 2013 season with a 15-6 record after suffering a 3-2 overtime loss to UMass in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2013 Patriot League Champion-Eagles (15-6) defeated Quinnipiac, 3-1, in its NCAA Play-In game to earn their eighth NCAA Tournament berth, finishing the year ranked 18th in the nation.

Virginia returns three of its top four goal-scorers from last season, including sophomore forwards Caleigh Foust (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) and Riley Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.) and midfielder Lucy Hyams (Whitstable, England), who was named the 2013 ACC Freshman of the Year after scoring five goals with 11 assists in her rookie campaign. 2012 All-ACC goalkeeper Jenny Johnstone (Paisley, Scotland) returns for her fourth season as the starting goalkeeper.

The Cavaliers also boast one of the top incoming freshman classes in the nation that includes U.S. Junior National Team veteran midfielder Tara Vittese (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and a pair of international players in forward Emilie van Zinnicq Bergmann (Dordrecht, Netherlands) and Nadine de Koning (Laren, Netherlands).

The 2014 Virginia field hockey season officially gets underway on Friday, August 29 when the Cavaliers play at William & Mary. The Cavaliers’ first home game of the campaign will be on Sunday, Sept. 7 when they host Princeton at 11:30 a.m. The Princeton game is one of four contests during the regular season that will be streamed online as part of the Cavaliers Live subscription package through VirginiaSports.com.