Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
UVA Field Hockey Downs Duke 3-2 for Fifth-Straight Win
The Virginia field hockey team is on a roll.
The Cavaliers went down to Durham on Friday evening and, behind three second-quarter goals from three separate goal scorers, defeated No. 25 Duke 3-2 as No. 6 Virginia picked up its fifth-straight win over a ranked opponent.
UVA outshot Duke 6-0 in the opening period, but the first quarter transpired with no goals scored. Early in the second quarter, freshman Daniela Mendez-Trendler swept in a goal off of a feed from Annie McDonough to make it 1-0. The true freshman Mendez-Trendler has been on fire lately with four goals in the last three matches.
Duke would respond just a few minutes later with a goal from Hannah Miller off of a penalty corner to tie the match back up at one goal apiece. But, it would take less than a minute for the Cavaliers to regain their lead.
Meghen Hengerer and Annie McDonough set up a shot on a penalty corner for Noa Boterman, who took a solid strike and found the back of the cage to put UVA back in front 2-1.
The second-quarter scoring flurry continued for the Cavaliers very late in the half. An initial try off of a penalty corner was saved by Duke, but the rebound came right to Laura Janssen, who knocked it in with just 13 seconds left in the first half to give Virginia a commanding 3-1 lead heading into halftime.
Duke would apply some pressure on UVA in the third quarter as Issy Carey converted a penalty stroke to pull the Blue Devils back to within one. The Cavaliers had to earn the win, but the defense got the job done to seal the 3-2 victory.
Although it was just a one-goal margin of victory, Virginia dominated in every major stat category in the box score. Shots were 18-4 in favor of the Cavaliers, including an 11-2 edge in shots on goal, and Virginia had 10 corners as compared to just one for Duke.
Virginia's fifth-consecutive win improves UVA's record to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in ACC play. The Cavaliers will look to make it six in a row against Miami (Ohio) on Sunday at 1pm back in Charlottesville.
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