The No. 11 UVA field hockey team (2-0, 0-0 ACC) picked up a 2-1 victory over No. 9 Penn State (0-2, 0-0 Big Ten) on Sunday at Turf Field.
Junior midfielder Rachel Robinson (Mount Joy, Pa.) scored the game-winner with under two minutes remaining in regulation.
“It is always good to pick up a win over Penn State as they are always a really strong team ranked in the top-10 in the country,” UVA coach Michele Madison said. “They bring their game. You have to be able to meet their aggressiveness and physicality to be able to maintain ball possession, and we were able to do that today. After Penn State scored the tying goal, I told the team that we needed to establish our rhythm again, get our passing game back and to not go too big. We needed to build it up in our rhythm and pass, pass, pass, pass.”
Virginia struck first, scoring off a penalty corner 1:54 into the second quarter. Robinson took the initial shot from the top of the circle, with Penn State’s Anna Simon making a last-second defensive save, tapping the ball back out onto the field of play right before it crossed the goal line.
Senior back Anzel Viljoen (Matamata, New Zealand) picked up the loose ball and flicked it in from the left side to give UVA a 1-0 advantage. The Cavaliers held that same edge until Penn State scored off a penalty corner with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Virginia appeared to take the lead with 2:29 remaining, but a UVA shot that went into the net came after the ref had signaled for a penalty corner, so it did not count.
The Cavaliers reset, took the penalty corner and found the net again, with a hard shot from Robinson at the top of the circle deflecting off a defender’s stick and into the net for the winning score.
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Chris Graham
