Field hockey: No. 4 Virginia 4, William & Mary 2

The No. 4 Virginia field hockey team (8-0, 2-0 ACC) earned a 4-2 victory over William & Mary (4-4, 0-0 CAA) on Monday (Sept. 21) at University Hall Turf Field in Charlottesville, Va.

Playing in a constant downpour, the Cavaliers scored three first-half goals on four shots to take a 3-1 lead into the break. William & Mary outshot Virginia 10-7 in the second half and had six penalty corners, but the Tribe only managed to net one goal with Pippin Saunders capitalizing on one of the corners.

Sophomore midfielder Tara Vittese (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored a goal and had two assists for the Cavaliers. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Carrera Lucas (Brooklandville, Md.) played the second half in goal, making four saves.

“You have to deal with different situations, like tonight’s rain,” said Virginia head coach Michele Madison. “We work on trying to get through adversity. With the rain, we had to throw the game plan out the window. It was like playing on grass. You had to dribble the ball through spaces, because we couldn’t go with any speed with the lack of footing.”

Junior midfielder Lucy Hyams (Whitstable, England) scored the first goal of the game after Vittese dribbled into the circle and got a one-on-one with the goalie. Instead of taking the shot, Vittese got the goalie leaning in the wrong direction and then passed the ball to Hyams who had an open look at the goal. Vittese again dribbled into the circle 15 minutes into the first half, this time finding an open look for herself to score her seventh goal of the season. Junior strikers Riley Tata (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Caleigh Foust (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) connected for a goal two-and-a-half minutes later to give Virginia a 3-1 lead. Saunders got the Tribe on the board with less than a minute remaining before halftime.

Junior Katie Kelly (Phoenixville, Pa.) tapped in a pass from Vittese 3:38 into the second half to score Virginia’s fourth goal. Saunders scored her goal off William & Mary’s fourth penalty corner of the second half with 20 minutes left in the game.

With the win, the Cavaliers remain one of four unbeaten teams in the nation. The Cavaliers will take another undefeated team, No. 2 Syracuse (7-0, 2-0 ACC), on Friday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. in Syracuse, N.Y. before returning home to host No. 3 North Carolina on Friday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at Turf Field.