No. 7 UVA blanks No. 19 William & Mary, 3-0, for third-straight shutout

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 7 Virginia field hockey team picked up a 3-0 victory against No. 19 William & Mary on Sunday at Turf Field. Virginia scored three times in the fourth quarter while outshooting the Tribe 24-0 in the game.

Freshman Daniela Mendez-Trendler logged her third goal of the weekend to start the scoring for the Cavaliers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Virginia (7-3) jumped out on attack early, taking eight shots in the first quarter, including two on goal, and held a 13-0 shot advantage at the break, but could not convert their opportunities.

The Cavaliers finally broke through in the fourth quarter. Junior Anneloes Knol took on William & Mary goalkeeper Maddie George one-on-one with just over eight minutes left in the game. George made the initial save, but Mendez-Trendler found the rebound and smashed the ball into the upper corner of the net to give UVA a 1-0 lead on the Tribe (7-4).

Less than a minute later, Virginia was awarded a penalty stroke. Sophomore Taryn Tkachuk converted the stroke to give UVA a 2-0 lead.

Virginia added an insurance goal with two minutes left in the game. An initial shot by grad student Annie McDonough was blocked, but junior Meghen Hengerer was able to knock the loose ball into the net for her first goal of the season.

Check out the highlights from the explosive fourth quarter of our 3-0 win against William & Mary #GoHoos⚔️ pic.twitter.com/mQxkGbG0FK

— Virginia Field Hockey (@UVAFieldHockey) October 2, 2022

NOTES

• William & Mary goalkeeper Maddie George made six saves
• George came into the weekend as the NCAA leader in save percentage at 0.853 with a 1.09 goals-against average (ranked No. 10 in the nation)
• Virginia topped No. 11 Syracuse 3-0 last week and No. 5 Louisville 2-0 on Friday to give them three straight shutouts against ranked teams
• Daniela Mendez-Trendler scored both goals on Friday against Louisville. Her goal today is her fifth of the year
• Taryn Tkachuk’s goal was her second of the year
• All three goals were unassisted
• The game was played in a steady light rain, the remnants of Hurricane Ian

FROM HEAD COACH MICHELE MADISON

“William & Mary presented a very aggressive defensive style, and they were committed to defense. It took us a while to get through, especially in the circle. There were a lot of people in the circle. We just stuck with it, kept trying to build the passing game and great opportunities and just get one to drop. We knew when we got one to drop, we hoped they would keep dropping. It was a great defensive unit again today. Just a great defensive effort by our team and the persistence and resilience to keep playing through it even though they could have easily gotten frustrated with so much offensive output and no results, but we didn’t.”

ON THE HORIZON

The Cavaliers return to ACC play on Friday at No. 22 Duke before returning home to host Miami University on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Turf Field.