No. 3 Virginia Tops No. 7 Liberty 1-0 on Tuesday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 3 Virginia field hockey team (10-1, 5-1 ACC) returns to its winning ways with a 1-0 victory over No. 7 Liberty (10-2, 4-0 BIG EAST) on Tuesday (Oct. 14) at Turf Field.
Goals (Assist)
8:41 Virginia — Caroline Nemec (unassisted)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cavaliers are back in the win column with a 1-0 victory over the No. 7 Liberty Flames. Virginia came out strong from the first whistle as senior Caroline Nemec scored in the eighth minute of play. Graduate student, Suze Leemans got the ball inside the circle, took a shot but was blocked. The rebound went right to Nemec who was able to find the back of the net to give the Cavaliers the lead.
Up by one at the half, the Cavaliers were able to fend off the Flames attack in the second half of the game. Both teams earned a total of three penalty corners on which neither team was able to convert.
Starting in goal, Virginia’s Nilou Lempers recorded two saves facing four shots on goal while Liberty’s starting goalkeeper, Diane Saint Martin, recorded one save facing two shots on goal. Lempers recorded her sixth shutout of the season and fifth against a ranked team.
NOTES
- Senior Caroline Nemec recorded her second goal of the season
- Virginia goalkeeper Nilou Lempers recorded four saves and sixth shutout of the season
- Liberty goalkeeper Diane Saint Martin recorded one save
- Virginia held the edge in shots (8-7) while Liberty held the edge in shots on goal (4-2)
- Both teams earned three penalty corners
FROM HEAD COACH OLE KEUSGEN
“Our main goal was to create more opportunities, which I think we did decently in the first half. It was more of what do we need to do to have an attacking and aggressive mindset. Liberty is a very good defensive team, and they don’t traditionally give up any chances so that early goal was important. We came out firing. That’s what we said throughout the week, what do we need to do better to be out there, to be aggressive and to make an impact.”
FROM CAROLINE NEMEC
“A lot of our games we have had fourth-quarter wins, so being able to score in the first quarter and really capitalize that in the beginning really set us up for success and allowed us to have the mindset on being on the offense the whole game. Coming off of a loss we really wanted to capitalize on today, score goals, being there and having the options. A large part of that had to do with the basics, making the simple passes, connecting with one another and really capitalize on having that offensive attack out there.”
ON THE HORIZON
The No. 3 Cavaliers travel up the road to Williamsburg to take on William & Mary on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. before heading to Louisville, Ky., to take on Louisville on Friday, Oct. 24 at 3 p.m.