Virginia Opens the Season with an 11-1 Victory
Aug. 25, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 10 Virginia field hockey team (1-0) opened up the 2017 season with an 11-1 victory over Fairfield (0-1) on Friday (August 25) at University Hall Turf Field in Charlottesville, Va.
Freshman midfielder Pien Dicke (Den Haag, Netherlands) began her collegiate career by scoring a hat trick. Senior midfielder Tara Vittese (Cherry Hill, N.J.) also scored a hat trick and added three assists for a nine-point performance. Freshman Rachel Robinson (Mount Joy, Pa.) logged three assists in her collegiate debut.
Virginia led 5-0 at halftime, outshooting the Stags 15-3 in the period. In the second half, the Cavaliers added six more goals before Fairfield’s Sam Giordano scored an unassisted goal with 10 minutes remaining to put her squad on the board.
“This was a full-team effort today,” said head coach Michele Madison. “We were able to use everyone and still maintain our passing game. I would say our defensive pressure was the biggest positive from today, though to put the ball in the goal as often as we did is obviously also a major positive. The challenge today was to come back out and play a strong second half, which we were able to do. Our newcomers fit right in. Rachel was strong in the back with Pien in the front applying pressure. [Freshman] Makayla Gallen also gave us some strong minutes.”
Dicke scored the first goal of the game, tipping in a shot off a penalty corner, the first of five goals UVA scored off corners. Dicke’s showed off her stick work on her second goal, dribbling into the circle and past defenders to give UVA a 3-0 advantage 8:24 into the game. She scored her third goal 2:29 into the second half, dribbling into the circle with a soft touch and rolling the ball past the goalkeeper to put UVA up 6-0.
Vittese scored a pair of goals off corners in the first half as well as scoring the 11th goal of the game with 9:30 remaining when she dribbled into the circle and fired off an unstoppable shot into the upper corner of the net.
Junior striker Greta Ell (Plains, Pa.) had back-to-back goals in the second half, tipping in a pass from Vittese right after Vittese had stolen the ball from a Fairfield defender. Ell followed that three minutes later by tipping in a long pass from senior Nadine de Koning (Laren, Netherlands) to give UVA an 8-0 lead. Sophomore striker Brooke Castleberry (Virginia Beach, Va.) scored a goal in her collegiate debut, knocking in a loose ball in front of the net for UVA’s 10th goal of the game.
Redshirt junior goalie Carerra Lucas (Brooklandville, Md.) made seven saves, facing 14 shots. Fairfield’s Zoe Rosen made 13 saves in the second half, allowing six goals. Caitlin Gilligan started the game in the net for the Stags, making four saves and allowing five goals.
The Fairfield contest is the first of five-straight games for the Cavaliers at Turf Field to start the season. No. 7 Penn State will close out the opening weekend with a noon game on Sunday, August 27. Admission is free for all regular-season UVA field hockey home contests.