The No. 3 UVA field hockey team (11-4, 4-1 ACC) suffered its first conference loss of the season, falling 4-3 to No. 17 Wake Forest (9-5,2-2 ACC) on Sunday (Oct. 12) at Turf Field.
Wake Forest took a 2-1 lead into the halftime break and scored again ten minutes into the second period to put Virginia in a 3-1 hole. Three of Wake’s four goals came off penalty corners.
“It was a hard fought game, like most ACC contests, where every minute counted and we really needed to take advantage of the chances we had,” said Virginia head coach Michele Madison. “In the second half, I told them to get back to the basics, look up and see where the space was and put some tempo back into the game. We did come back, but we ran out of time to erase the whole deficit.”
The Cavaliers outshot the Demon Deacons, 17-11, including a 9-5 advantage in the first half. Wake Forest’s Valerie Dahmen made nine saves with Virginia senior Jenny Johnstone (Paisley, Scotland) making five.
Wake Forest’s Christine Conroe scored two goals with two assists. Freshman midfielder Tara Vittese (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored a goal, her 13th of the season, and had an assist.
Sophomore Caleigh Foust (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) gave Virginia a 1-0 lead six minutes into the game on the first shot by either team after receiving a pass from sophomore Emilia Tapsall (Old Greenwich, Conn.) at the top of the circle and sweeping it into the goal. Wake answered seven minutes later, with Conroe tipping in a secondary shot after a penalty corner. Conroe tapped in another shot with seven minutes left in the first half to give Wake a 2-1 lead.
Trailing 3-1 after Wake converted on a penalty corner ten minutes into the second half, Vittese got the Cavaliers to within one after converting a penalty stroke, her fourth of the season. With nine minutes remaining, Wake Forest converted their sixth and final short corner opportunity of the game. Two minutes later, senior Maddie DeCerbo (Surf City, N.J.) pulled Virginia back to a one-goal deficit, tapping in a pass by Vittese to make it a 4-3 game with 6:42 remaining. The Demon Deacon defense limited UVa to one shot in the final six minutes to hold on for the victory.
Vittese, who scored both of Virginia’s goals in Friday night’s victory at Richmond, ends the weekend with seven points on three goals and an assist. She leads the Atlantic Coast Conference with 41 points this season.
With the loss, the Cavaliers remain in first place in the ACC with four teams (Louisville, North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest) each having two losses in conference play. Virginia’s final ACC contest will be Friday, Oct. 24 when the Cavaliers play at Boston College.
Next weekend, the Cavaliers will play their final two regular-season home games of the year, hosting Liberty on Friday, Oct. 17 at 6 p.m. and No. 19 Old Dominion on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. with the annual Senior Day ceremony taking place after Sunday’s game. Admission is free for all regular-season home games at Turf Field.
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Chris Graham
