No. 11 Virginia Edged 1-0 in ACC Opener at No. 5 Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 11 Virginia field hockey team (4-2, 0-1 ACC) fell 1-0 in its conference opener at No. 5 Louisville (7-0, 1-0 ACC) on Friday (Sept. 17) at Trager Stadium in Louisville, Ky.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Louisville’s Mattie Tabor scored the lone goal of the game, taking a shot from the right side of the cage into the left corner five minutes into the second quarter.

Virginia held a 5-4 edge in shots in the first half, with Louisville’s goalie Mila de Kuijer making four saves in the first quarter. Virginia held the offensive edge in the second half, taking five shots, but coming up empty. The UVA defense kept the Cavaliers in the game, not allowing a Louisville shot in the second half.

NOTES

• Freshman Taryn Tkachuk made her first career start. There were four first-years in the starting lineup including Tyler Kennedy who was making her second straight start
• Kennedy played the whole game in goal, except for the final 1:21 when UVA pulled the goalie
• Louisville’s goal ended the Virginia defensive’s span of 242 minutes of not allowing a goal
• Virginia held a 10-4 edge in shots, and 4-1 advantage in penalty corners

FROM HEAD COACH MICHELE MADISON

“That’s was some great ACC action to open up the conference play. We saw a lot of good things we did well, and also things that we can really work on that are within our control. We dug deep today and that we can take with us. We have to punish the opponent, that’s what we call it, when we win the ball we have to get something from it.”

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia closes out the weekend playing on Sunday, Sept. 19 at No. 24 Ohio State (6-1, 1-0 Big Ten). The game begins at noon and will stream online on BTN+
• Ohio State won its Friday Big Ten opener against Michigan State, 4-3