Video Stream | Live Stats | Game Notes
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia field hockey team (0-0, 0-0 ACC) opens the 2019 season by playing at Old Dominion (0-0, 0-0 Big East) on Friday, August 30 at 5 p.m. at L.R. Hill Sports Complex in Norfolk, Va.
Broadcast Information
- The game will be streamed live on Old Dominion’s website through Monarch Media
- Live stats will also be available for the game. Links for both are posted on VirginiaSports.com
Noting the Cavaliers
- The Cavaliers are a young team with only four seniors and two juniors
- Junior Makayla Gallen is the leading returning goal scorer from last season. Gallen contributed 10 points with four goals and two assists
- No single Cavalier player scored more than four goals last season with 12 different players scoring at least one goal
- The Cavaliers had two players named to the Preseason All-ACC team; junior midfielder Rachel Robinson (Mount Joy, Pa.) and sophomore Amber Ezechiels (Niew-Vennep, Netherlands)
- Robinson has been named to the Longstreth/NFHCA All-South Region second team in each of her first two seasons with the Cavaliers. She was a key component to last year’s defensive unit, making three defensive saves
- Ezechiels finished her rookie campaign with three goals and three assists for nine points. She was named the Synapse Sports National Rookie of the Week (10/24/18) after scoring a goal with two assists in games against Wake Forest and Maryland. She was a mainstay of the Cavaliers defense that tallied three shutouts last season
- Head coach Michele Madison comes into the season with a 394-240-8 career record as a head coach. She is six wins away from becoming the ninth NCAA Division I coach to tally 400 career wins
A Quick Glance Back at 2018
- The Cavaliers earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the 23rd NCAA bid in program history and the 11th in head coach Michele Madison’s 13 seasons at UVA. The Cavaliers were edged, 2-1, by Princeton in the first round
- The Cavaliers played the second-toughest schedule in the country and finished the season winning five of their last seven games heading into Selection Sunday, including a 3-1 upset win over No. 2 Maryland for the Cavaliers’ Senior Day game
- The Cavaliers had seven players voted to the All-ACC Academic Team
- Greta Ell, who graduated in May, was named to the All-South Region first team while a pair of returning defenders, Colleen Norair and Rachel Robinson, were named to the second team. Ell went on to earn third team All-America honors
- Virginia played the second-toughest schedule in the nation last year, only trailing in strength of schedule to Princeton
Rankings
- The Cavaliers will start the season ranked No. 11 in the NFHCA rankings
- Virginia has been ranked in the top-25 every single week since the 2012 preseason poll
- The Cavaliers will face the No. 1, 2 and 3 teams from the preseason rankings this year as well as six other ranked opponents
Scouting Old Dominion
- Virginia opens the season on the road at Old Dominion. This is the first of two meetings this year between the two Commonwealth rivals. ODU plays in Charlottesville on Oct. 6
- Old Dominion University was picked to finish in fourth place in the 2019 BIG EAST Field Hockey Preseason Coaches’ Poll, while Rebecca Birch and Erin Huffman were selected preseason All Big-East
- ODU holds a 32-15 advantage in the all-time series
- Since 2012, UVA is 4-3 against the Monarchs with two of those losses coming in overtime and the other being a 1-0 game
On the Horizon
- The Cavaliers host No. 9 Penn State on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 12 p.m. for their home opener
- Penn State holds an 18-8 advantage in the all-time series. UVA has lost the last three meetings
- This is the 11th time in the last 12 seasons that UVA and Penn State have played another on the opening weekend of the season. Penn State is 7-3 in the previous games
- Admission is free for all regular-season home games