The UVA field hockey team (1-1, 1-0 ACC) opened ACC action with a 1-0 victory over Wake Forest (1-2, 0-1 ACC) on Sunday.
Sophomore striker Laura Janssen broke a scoreless tie by knocking in a pass from sophomore midfielder Adele Iacobucci with 3:10 remaining in regulation.
The win came a day after Wake Forest had defeated the ‘Hoos 2-1 in a game that was designated a non-conference matchup because it’s 2020.
The Cavaliers outshot the Demon Deacons 6-2 in the first half, but neither team could find the net. Virginia had a good scoring chance early in the fourth quarter when a penalty corner yielded a pair of shots, but neither hit the mark.
UVA took two more shots, including attempts by senior striker Makayla Gallen and Iacobucci, but still couldn’t break through.
With just over three minutes left in regulation, Iacobucci got the ball at the top of the circle and sent a hard pass in to Janssen who smashed a shot past the keeper into the left corner of the net.
Wake Forest had a chance to tie the game, earning a penalty corner with just over a minute left, but the attempt by Anne van Hoof was high.
The Demon Deacons were awarded another penalty corner with four seconds left on the clock. UVA blocked the shot, but had another penalty corner called.
With no time left on the clock, the Deacons final shot sailed wide and out of play to end the game.
“We found a way to dig deep,” UVA coach Michele Madison said. “Playing back to back games is tough, especially against a good Wake Forest team. Just because you’re physically tired, doesn’t mean your brain is tired, and you need to use your brain more when you’re tired, so we tried to let the wall do the work and just play a simple game. Our strategy was to try to use as many people as possible to share the load, possess the ball and take the opportunity to go forward when we could.”
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Chris Graham
