PARIS – Former Virginia field hockey player Pien Dicke won a gold medal with the Dutch field hockey team on Friday (Aug. 9) at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Paris, France.
The Netherlands faced China in the final. China led most of the game after scoring six minutes into the contest, but the Netherlands tied it up with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. With the score knotted 1-1 at the end of regulation, the gold was decided in a shootout, which the Netherlands won 3-1.
Dicke had been a reserve on the team and was moved to the active roster for Friday’s gold medal match after Joosje Burg suffered a broken nose in the semifinal victory against Argentina.
At Virginia, Dicke was the 2017 ACC Freshman of the Year and a First-Team All-American in her lone season with the Cavaliers before returning to the Netherlands to begin competing for her national teams.
Dicke is the first medalist in program history and the third Olympian, joining Michelle Vittese (Team USA, London 2012 and Rio 2016) and Paige Selenski (Team USA London 2012).