No. 5 Virginia Plays Thursday at No. 8 Liberty

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Oct. 14, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia field hockey team (10-3, 3-2 ACC) plays at No. 8 Liberty (9-3) on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m. in Lynchburg, Va.

This will be Virginia’s second-straight road game against a ranked in-state foe after the Cavaliers dropped a 3-2 double overtime game last Sunday (Oct. 11) at No. 15 Old Dominion. UVA trailed 2-0 to ODU before scores by junior Riley Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.) and sophomore Tara Vittese (Cherry Hill, N.J.) tied the game with 18 minutes remaining in regulation. The Monarchs scored the game winner off a penalty corner 6:21 into the second overtime.

Vittese leads the Cavaliers with 25 points with a team-best nine goals and seven assists.

The game against Liberty will be the sixth top-10 match-up for the Cavaliers this season. Virginia is 3-2 this season against top-10 opponents, with the two losses coming against higher-ranked teams. Virginia is in its third game of a stretch of six-straight games against ranked opponents with only one of those contests, the Saturday, Oct. 24 game against No. 13 Boston College, being contested at home at Turf Field.

Liberty moved up four spots in this week’s NFHCA poll, entering the top-10 for the first time this season after scoring 15 goals in a pair of wins last weekend over Lehigh, 9-1, and Delaware, 6-2. Virginia is 2-0 all-time against the Flames, who added field hockey as a varsity sport in 2011, including a 3-2 overtime win last season in Charlottesville.

Virginia closes out its current road trip on Sunday, Oct. 18, playing at No. 15 Delaware (11-3, 2-1 CAA) on Sunday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. before returning home to host No. 13 Boston College (7-6, 0-4 ACC) on Senior Day on Saturday, Oct. 2