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Tara Vittese

Midfield
Position
5'10''
Height
Freshman
Class
Cherry Hill, N.J.
Hometown
Camden Catholic
High School
Tara Vittese - Field Hockey - Virginia Cavaliers

2014 Tara Vittese Web Feature | 2017 NCAA.com Feature on Tara Vittese

AT VIRGINIA

2017

  • Longstreth/NFHCA National Player of the Year, the only player to ever win the honor three times
  • ACC Offensive Player of the Year, the first player to win two straight since Maryland’s Katie O’Donnell in 2009-10. She is the first Virginia player to repeat as the conference player of the year
  • Longstreth/NFHCA South Region Player of the Year, the first Virginia player to be named the regional player of the year three times in their career
  • Longstreth/NFHCA All-America First Team, the first player in UVA program history to be a four-time first team All-American and the fifth player to earn four All-America honors in her career
  • First Team All-ACC, the 14th player in the 35-year history of ACC Field Hockey to be a four-time All-ACC honoree and the third player in UVA history to do so
  • Longstreth/NFHCA All-South Region First Team
  • ACC Field Hockey All-Tournament Team
  • VaSID State Player of the Year, the first player ever to win the honor four times. Winning the honor also made it six stright years, and eight of the last nine, in which a Cavalier was named the top player in the Commonwealth
  • Finished her collegiate career with 195 points, ranking third in the Virginia record book. She also ranks third with 51 assists and fifth with 72 goals. She tallied 18 game-winning goals and was 17-of-18 in penalty strokes in her career.
  • Finished the year ranked second in the nation in points (3.20) and goals (1.25) per game and is eighth in assists per game (0.70). Led the nation in points and goals through the first seven weeks of the season and led the nation in assists more than half the year
  • Scored three goals with three assists in the season opener against Fairfield (Aug. 25)
  • Had her second hat trick of the season, third of her career, in the win over Columbia, also contributing three assists (Sept. 1)
  • Scored all five goals in Virginia’s 5-3 victory over Monmouth (Sept. 3), tying the ACC record for most goals in a single game. It was also the first time since 1975 that a Virginia player had a five-goal game
  • Named the Longstreth/NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week and the ACC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 5) after contributing 19 points (8 goals, 3 assists) in the wins over Columbia and Monmouth. It was her second time being named National Player of the Week and her fifth ACC Player of the Week honor
  • Named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week again the following week (Sept. 11) and was an honorable mention for Longstreth/NFHCA National Player of the Week after scoring a pair of goals against Duke (Sept. 8) and again against Michigan State (Sept. 10)
  • Began her career going 16-of-16 in penalty strokes before missing an attempt against Richmond (Sept. 17). Converted her 18th career attempt at No. 13 Wake Forest, giving UVA an insurance goal in the road win (Oct. 2)
  • Scored the game-winning goal in a top-10 ACC road match-up at Syracuse (Oct. 14)
  • Entered her senior season ranked ninth in program history in points (131), 10th in goals (47) and tied for sixth in assists (37)

2016

  • 2016 Longstreth/NFHCA National Player of the Year, the fourth player to ever repeat national player of the year honors and the first-ever to repeat as the NFHCA Player of the Year
  • 2016 ACC Offensive Player of the Year, third time a Virginia player has earned the honor
  • 2016 Longstreth/NFHCA South Region Player of the Year, her second-straight time winning the award. It was the fourth time in program history a Cavalier earned the honor, but the first time a UVA repeated in back-to-back seasons
  • Longstreth/NFHCA First Team All-American, her third-straight first-team honor
  • 2016 Longstreth/NFHCA All-South Region First Team, her third-straight honor
  • All-ACC First Team, her third-straight first-team honor
  • ACC All-Tournament Team with two goals and three assists during the championship
  • ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week and Longstreth/NFHCA National Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 4) after leading the Cavaliers to a pair of victories over ranked opponents (No. 16 Wake Forest and No. 14 ODU) with a goal and an assist in each game
  • ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 18) after setting up the game-tying goal and scoring the game-winning goal at William & Mary as well as assisting on the overtime game-winning goal against No. 2 Syracuse
  • Scored the game-winning goals against Rutgers, Liberty, Princeton and William & Mary
  • Perfect 4-for-4 on penalty strokes on the season and 13-for-13 in her career
  • Co-captain

2015

  • 2015 Longstreth/NFHCA National Player of the Year, the first-ever Cavalier to be named the National Player of the Year and the third-ever ACC player to be voted the National Player of the Year by the NFHCA
  • 2015 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I First Team All-American, her second-straight first-team All-America honor
  • 2015 Longstreth/NFHCA South Region Player of the Year, only the third time in program history a Cavalier earned the honor
  • Second-straight Longstreth/NFHCA All-South Region First Team honors
  • Second-straight First-Team All-ACC
  • Second-straight VaSID State Player of the Year and First-Team All-State
  • Had a team-high 39 points with a team-high 15 goals and nine assists, ranking second in assists
  • Third in the ACC in points per game (1.86) and goals per game (0.71); tied for sixth in assists per game (0.43)
  • ACC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 1) after scoring two goals and adding two assists in the opening weekend, including scoring the game-tying goal against Penn State
  • 3-of-3 on penalty strokes, including making the game-winner in the regular-season overtime win at Delaware (Oct. 18)
  • Scored a goal in each of the first five games
  • Scored UVA’s first goal in NCAA first-round game against Delaware
  • Preseason All-ACC


2014

  • 2014 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-American, the second-ever Virginia freshman to be named a first-team All-American
  • ACC Freshman of the Year, the fifth Cavalier to earn that honor
  • 2014 Longstreth/NFHCA Division I All-South Region First Team
  • All-ACC First Team
  • Was the first-ever Virginia freshman to earn Preseason All-ACC honors
  • Was named the ACC Player of the Week twice during the season, winning back-to-back honors. On Sept. 16, she earned the honor after assisting on two overtime game-winners (against Louisville and Rutgers), finishing the week with four goals and three assists. On Sept. 23, she earned the honor after scoring a goal with three assists in a pair of victories over top-10 teams (No. 3 Duke and No. 7 Albany)
  • Led the ACC in shots, shots per game, points, points per game, goals and assists through the end of the regular season
  • Ranked in the top-five in the nation most of the season in points per game. Finished the year ranked fourth in the nation in points per game (2.55), sixth in assists per game (0.85) and 10th in goals per game (0.85)
  • Set the Virginia freshman record for assists in a season (17)
  • Second in points by a Virginia freshman (51)
  • Her 17 assists is tied for sixth-highest single-season total in Virginia history
  • Had four assists in her first collegiate game at William & Mary
  • Had a hat trick against Rutgers, also adding an assist for seven points, taking a season-high 11 shots in the game
  • Scored the game-winning goals at Duke, against Syracuse, at Richmond and against Liberty
  • Was 6-of-6 in penalty strokes, including making two against Rutgers

National/International

  • Won the silver medal with the US U21 team at the 2016 Junior Pan American Championship, held in Tacarigua, Trinidad & Tobago, scoring three goals during the tournament, one each in the contests against Trinidad & Tobago, Canada and Barbados.
  • Competed with the US Junior National Team in a test series against Great Britain (Jan. 6-12, 2016)
  • Despite being the youngest player on the team, was the top scorer for the US U-21 Junior National Team at the 2013 Junior World Cup, held in Monchengladbach, Germany
  • Her four goals at the 2013 Junior World Cup tied for seventh among all players in the tournament which is regarded as the top international event for elite field hockey athletes under the age of 21
  • Also played on the US U-21 team in 2012, traveling to Manchester, England for a friendly versus English U21 teams
  • 2011-14 U-19 National Squad
  • As a member of the 2013 U-19 National Team, traveled to Amsterdam for a tour
  • 2011 U-17 National Team
  • Played in U-16 tournament in the Netherlands in 2011, winning the shootout tournament at the event
  • 2013-14 Women’s National Championship, playing for the U21 squad

High School

  • Finished her prep career with 166 goals, a Camden Catholic record as well as No. 6 all time in the nation for high school career goal scoring.
  • Two-time high school All-American
  • Three-time all-state
  • Four-time first-team All-Conference honoree

Personal

  • Daughter of Mark and Patricia Vittese
  • Sisters Michelle (2008-10, 2012) and Carissa (2010-13) both played field hockey at Virginia with Michelle earning All-America honors three times
  • Sister Michelle is a current member of the US National Team and competed at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics

Vittese’s Career Statistics