No. 3 Virginia Shuts Out Drexel, 8-0
Oct. 8, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 3 Virginia field hockey team (11-2, 3-1 ACC) closed out its current home stand with an 8-0 victory over Drexel (5-9, 0-2 CAA) on Sunday (Oct. 8) at University Hall Turf Field in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers held a 7-0 lead at halftime and outshot Drexel 29-2. The dragons lone shot on goal came in the final minute of play.
Freshman midfielder Pien Dicke (Den Haag, Netherlands) scored three goals, picking up her fifth hat trick of the season in the first 15 minutes of the game.
The shutout was the Cavaliers’ fifth in the last six games and their sixth overall this season.
“Today we were concentrating on reestablishing our passing game, playing the simple pass early, getting on the lead early and making some improvements from Friday’s game,” said Virginia head coach Michele Madison. “I thought the team did well with the adjustments. Pien came prepared to compete at her best and she got results because of it. She put a lot of effort and work into the attack. I thought Dominique [van Slooten] and Rachel [Robinson] played strong in the back, denying Drexel penetration, which set up our counterattack.”
Dicke started the scoring off for the Cavaliers, deflecting in a shot off a penalty corner by sophomore back Dominique van Slooten (Laren, Netherlands) seven minutes into the contest. Sophomore midfielder Colleen Norair (Fredericksburg, Va.) added a goal a minute later, taking a rebound off the goalie’s pads and knocking it into the net. Dicke scored two goals a minute apart, taking a hard shot through the heart of Drexel defense after a penalty corner at the 13:30 mark and following that up with a shot into the upper corner of the net after grabbing a steal and taking off on a breakaway.
The Cavaliers, who had 13 penalty corners in the game, scored two more goals off those chances, one in the first half by sophomore striker Erin Shanahan (Pasadena, Md.) and the other the lone goal of the second half which came from shot by sophomore back Anzel Viljoen (Matamata, New Zealand).
Freshman midfielder Catesby Willis (Fredericksburg, Va.) scored her first career goal, the Cavaliers’ seventh of the game, tapping in a loose ball after an initial save with 10 minutes remaining in the first half.
Dicke now has 18 goals this season. Her five hat tricks this year ties the Virginia single-season record, matching the mark set by Meridith Thorpe in 1996.
The Cavaliers, who played 11 of their first 13 games at Turf Field, will be on the road next week, traveling to face No. 9 Syracuse on Saturday, October 14 at 1 p.m. The match will stream live online as an ACC Network Extra contest on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Virginia’s final regular-season home game will be on Tuesday, Oct. 17 when it hosts No. 15 Maryland at 5 p.m.