Nov. 11, 2006

Box Score

The Virginia field hockey team stood strong defensively and did not allow Iowa to dent the boards, while at the other end of the field the Cavaliers drew a short corner and scored on a rebound to defeat Iowa 1-0 in NCAA first round action. Virginia (14-7) allowed the Hawkeyes (12-9) only two short corners, while Virginia drew five, all in the second half of play. Kat Blair played all 70 minutes in the cage and made four saves to preserve the shutout.

The two teams went back and forth in the midfield for the first portion of the first period, with neither team getting any significant looks in the D. With nine minutes to play in the first half, the Hawks drew a short corner, but the Cavaliers successfully defended it and the match stayed even at 0-0. Three minutes later the Cavaliers were assessed a yellow card, sending a player off the pitch and forcing the Hoos to play down a player. Three minutes after that, a second yellow card was booked against Virginia and the Cavaliers had to play the final three minutes of the period down two players. The Virginia defense, however, stood strong and the teams went into the break tied 0-0.

Virginia had one of the booked players return to the pitch to start the second half of play, but the second players was off the pitch for the first seven minutes of the period. The Cavaliers did not break, however, and when the sides returned to full strength in the 42nd minute the score was still even 0-0.

Nine minutes later Lindsay O'Bannon knocked down a pass at midfield and attacked the circle, where she was fouled, giving the Cavaliers their first short corner of the contest. On the play, the initial shot by Kaars Sijpesteijn was blocked by the fly, but she collected the rebound and sent it to the boards for a 1-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later the Cavaliers drew a second short corner as Kaars Sijpesteijn sent the ball up the right side of the pitch to Erin Hayes, who attacked the circle from the endline and drew the short. Iowa drew a penalty corner minutes later, but the Cavaliers defended it successfully.

In the 70th minute a clearing pass deep in the Virginia D was tipped by an Iowa striker, but Blair made her fourth save of the game to preserve the shutout.

"The coaching staff was particularly impressed with our team's ability to rise to the challenges presented in the match," said Virginia head coach Michele Madison. "Iowa had great momentum coming into the game and had a structured game plan as always. Our players capitalized on the few errors Iowa made and Inge put the game away in the second half. Our back four defenders came up big all day with particularly strong performances by Kat Bounds and Lucy Meyers along with the shutout from Kat Blair."

The Cavaliers advance to play top-ranked Wake Forest in the NCAA quarterfinal. Game time against the host Demon Deacons is 2:00 pm.

Linescore	1	2	F	(records)
Iowa		0	0	0	(12-9)
Virginia	0	1	1	(14-7)
Scoring summary:
51:34	UVA, Kaars Sijpesteijn, pc
Keepers: VA: Blair (70 mins, 4 saves, 0 GA)
	Iowa: Munley (70 mins, 5 saves, 1 GA)
Shots: VA 11, Iowa 7
Short corners: VA 5, Iowa 2
Incidents: VA: Link, GC, 23' ; Hayes, YC, 29'; Taylor, 33'