Cavaliers field hockey looks to stay undefeated in Ohio

In the 2008 season, the Virginia field hockey team won its first four games. Then, in game five, the Cavaliers' undefeated streak was broken in a 1-0 clunker on the road against James Madison.

After again starting the season 4-0, No. 6 Virginia will attempt to avoid the same fate in Ohio this weekend. The Cavaliers will face Kent State on Friday before going against Ohio on Sunday.

"When we go into a game, we don't think of our record," senior midfielder and captain Traci Ragukas said. "We want to win every game, so our [mentality] is we need to win this game right now, learning to balance and staying focused."

Coming off a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Old Dominion, Virginia looks to continue its dominant defensive front. Thus far, the Cavalier defense has recorded three shutouts, allowing just a lone goal in a 2-1 win against Providence.

"Our defense has been our strength," Virginia head coach Michele Madison said. "We just need to finish. We are able to create opportunities but what is important is being able to recognize them and following through."

To this point, Virginia has scored 11 goals, compared to just one by its opponents. True freshman Tara Puffenberger and sophomores Floor Vogels and Inga StAckel have all tallied two goals and added an assist each to lead the team with five points apiece. Five other Cavaliers also have notched a goal thus far.

Kent State (3-2) just suffered an deflating 7-1 loss in a road match against Stanford, the second match the Golden Flashes have lost by six goals or more this season. The other came against Saint Louis, a 7-0 defeat at home in Kent State's season-opener.

Although Kent State was never able to get its offense going in its last contest, junior starting goalie Caroline Suitch equaled a season high with eight saves in 43 minutes before giving way to freshman Kirstin Willders, who had five saves in 27 minutes of action.

On the flip side, Virginia has had difficulty finding the boards despite remaining unbeaten. In the team's last three wins -- which were all by a one-goal margin -- it converted just four goals in 51 shots.

"We just want to play our system," junior midfielder Haley Carpenter said. "Get inside the 25, get more shots on goal, create more space for the pass and just produce better outcomes."

Though scoring has been an issue, getting shots has not. The Cavaliers have taken 69 shots compared to their opponents' 19 and intend on bombarding Kent State with the same offensive intensity.

Following the Friday game against the Golden Flashes, Virginia will head to nearby Athens, Ohio to take on Ohio University. Like Kent State, the Bobcats (1-3) also have just absorbed a loss against a team from the Big Ten -- a 5-2 defeat to Michigan State. For comparison, the Cavaliers can look at Atlantic Coast Conference rival Maryland, which defeated the Bobcats 3-0 in Ohio's opener.

Key players for Ohio include junior forward Katherine Ballard, a Charlottesville native who has scored two goals, already matching her season total from last season; senior forward Marcy Dull, who has also found the net twice after notching seven goals last season; midfielders junior Brittany Zorn and senior Katelyn Shelley, who lead the team with two assists each; and junior midfielder Paige Herr, who scored two game-winning goals last season.

In addition, junior goalkeeper Courtney Seiders -- who is debuting with the Bobcats after transferring from Old Dominion -- appears to have solidified the starting job, after she won the Mid-American Conference's Defensive Player of the Week award on Tuesday for her 13-save performance in a 1-0 win against Indiana on Friday.

Virginia aims to maintain its sturdy defense and to improve on finishing its opportunities. Although Virginia is a fairly young squad, Madison credits much of the team's success to the defensive line. Vogels, along with junior back Shelly Edmonds, have stabilized the backfield, providing organization and direction for the Cavaliers.

"We have a lot more depth this year," Ragukas said. "Anybody from the bench can come in and play at anytime. Everybody on the team is strong. Even more so than any other year, we're a team. We are all one. There aren't different groups."

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2009/09/10/undefeated-virginia-meets-kent-state-ohio/

Related terms: conference, defense, field hockey, indiana, maryland, michigan, ohio, university, virginia