November 5, 1998

CAVALIER NOTES
Deja Vu: Virginia is in the very familiar position of being the top seed at the ACC Tournament, having been the #1 team a year ago. The Cavaliers hope, though, that this year's tournament ends a little differently than it did last year. Virginia will once again face the winner of the #4/#5 game, which once again pits Wake Forest vs Duke. Last year Duke beat Wake Forest and then took the Cavaliers to overtime, where the Hoos survived a pair of penalty corners and a scare, but Meredith Elwell skipped a shot through the Duke keeper into the cage for the win. The Cavaliers lost to the Tar Heels, though, 2-0 in the tournament finals. Virginia defeated Duke earlier this season 2-1 in Durham and blanked Wake Forest 6-0 in Charlottesville.

Field Hockey at the 1998 ACC Championships
Hosted by the University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA
November 5-8, 1998

Final Conference Standings

              W  L    Pct  GF GA   W  L  Pct  GF GA Home Away Neut  L10
1. Virginia   4  0  1.000  13  4  15  3 .833  68 23 11-0  2-3  2-0  9-1
2. Maryland   3  1   .750  15  6  14  5 .737  71 29 11-0  1-5  2-0  7-3
3. N. Car.    2  2   .500   7 10  12  6 .667  56 23  6-1  2-4  4-1  5-5
4. Wke For    1  3   .250   4 10  10  8 .555  58 25  8-2  2-3  0-3  6-4
5. Duke       0  4   .000   6 15  10  9 .526  34 36  5-3  5-4  1-1  5-5

Thursday, Nov. 5 -- 2:00 pm
#4 Wake Forest vs #5 Duke
Wake Forest wins, 3-2 2ot

Friday, Nov. 6--12:00 pm
#2 Maryland vs #3 North Carolina 2:30 pm
#1 Virginia vs Wake Forest

Sunday, Nov. 8 -- 3:30 pm
Semifinal winners

No place like home: Virginia is enjoying spending time at home, as the Cavaliers have a perfect 11-0 record at home in 1998. The Hoos also have a 15-game home winning streak going into the ACC Tournament. It is the longest home winning streak in school history. Virginia has been undefeated and untied at home only two seasons previously, in 1977 (6-0) and 1992 (7-0). The senior class has a record of 36-5 at home. Awesome October: For the second consecutive season the Cavaliers have gone through the month of October unblemished. Virginia finished the month with a perfect 9-0 record. It is the 13th time that Virginia has gone through a month without a loss, but only the 7th time that the Hoos have had no ties, and only the second time the team has played more than four games and won all of them. Virginia has won 23 straight games in October, dating back to 1996 when UVa beat then-Towson State 4-0 on Oct. 13. It is the longest winning streak in school history for a month. The longest unbeaten streak, though, goes back to 1974-77 when the Hoos were unbeaten in 32 consecutive games, starting with a win over VCU 2-0 on October 16, 1974 and lasted through the Roanoke game in 1978, which the Hoos won 3-0. In that 32-game span, Virginia tied 3 games. The second-longest streak, 14, was the final 14 games of that stretch. UVa has won 157 games all-time in October for a win % of 68.9% (157-68-10).

Can't win when you don't score!: The Cavaliers are the conference leader in scoring defense, allowing 1.28 goals per game. Virginia is also ranked 4th nationally in scoring defense, behind only Princeton (.688), Old Dominion (.900), and Boston College (1.00). Keeper Becky Worthington ranks seventh nationally with a 1.20 GAA.

Can't score if you don't shoot!: Virginia has not allowed an opponent to take more than nine shots per game. Twice Virginia has not allowed an opponent to shoot, and ten times the opponent has been held to less than five shots per game. Teams are averaging just over 4 shots per game.

All a part of the game: UVa has had 6 different people record the game-winner or game-winning assist this season. Michelle Vizzuso has five game-winning goals and four game-winning assists. Fifteen different Cavaliers have scored in 1998.

Shooting down the records: Virginia has battered the scoring statistics for a third year in a row. The Cavaliers scored 3.83 goals per game. In addition, UVa notched 3.67 assists per game en route to 204 total points. This marks the third consecutive year that the Cavaliers have reached the 200-point plateau, the only three times that Virginia has reached this mark.

Two-minute drill: The Cavaliers have made 8 quick strikes in the game, scoring in under two minutes following the opening whistle or after a goal scored by either team.

Vizzuso, Thorpe, and Elwell atop leaderboard: The Meridith tandem has led the league in goals with 17 tallied each this season. It is the first time that two teammates have led the league tied in goals in a season. Vizzuso led the league in assists with 23 and in points with 49.

Connect four: The four members of the All-Conference team is the most members that Virginia has had in school history. The Cavaliers have had three members on the team each year since 1992.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Mastro is the Maestro: Lori Mastropietro has been racking up the honors this years. She was named the ACC Player of the Year this season, the first Cavalier to be so honored. In addition, Mastro is a member of the All-Conference team for the second consecutive year. A member of the United States National team, Mastropietro was also named to the All-American South Regional team for the second consecutive year in 1997. She was also a member of the All-ACC team and the All-Conference team in1997. Both conference honors were first-time selections for the senior back.

Thorpe is da Bomb!: Meridith Thorpe is the all-time scoring leader in the ACC with 225 career points. Her 99 goals is the all-time conference high and ranks seventh all-time in Division I history. She is a member of the 1998 All-ACC team, her fourth such designation. She is only the third person in ACC history to be named to the All-Conference team in four years. In 1997, Thorpe was also named to the All-American South Regional first team for the third consecutive year. Thorpe was also named a first-team All-American for the third consecutive year; she was the only freshman in '95 and the only sophomore in '96 named to the first team All-American list. She ranks ninth on the current national points list.

Give that girl a hand!: Michelle Vizzuso continues to make field hockey history at Virginia. Not only does she hold the all-time assist record at Virginia with 58, she ranks 12th nationally in Division I history. For the third consecutive year, she has notched double digit totals in goals and assists; she was the first person in school history to reach this plateau as a sophomore. She is also the first person in Virginia history to reach double digit totals in career game-winning assists (12) and game-winning goals (10).Her 12 career game-winning assists is the highest total in school history. In 1998, Vizzuso became only the fourth person in ACC history to record 40 goals and 40 assists in a career, and with two more goals this season she will be only the second person in ACC history to record 50 goals and 50 assists in a career. Her 47 points in the regular season was good enough to capture the regular season scoring crown in the ACC. It is her highest scoring total for a season, besting her 45 last year. The 47 points ranks second all-time as a senior and sixth all-time in school history. Michelle was named the ACC Player of the Week for the second time this season as she tallied two goals and an assist in the Cavaliers' two wins this week. She is the only person in the ACC to be named Player of the Week twice this season. She was named to the All-Conference team for the third consecutive year in 1998. In 1997, Vizzuso was named a member of the All-American South Regional team for the third consecutive year and she was named a first-team All-American for the first time. She was a third-team All-American as a frosh and a second-team All-American as a sophomore. Michelle ranks sixth nationally in points with 47 and third in assists with 23.

Elwell is All-OK!: Meredith Elwell, who led the league in goals this season with 17, was named to the All-Conference team for the first time in her career. The 1996 ACC Rookie of the Year, Elwell already ranks fifth in scoring in Virginia history with 123 points. She stands 31 points out of third.

West heads in the right direction!: Frances West was named a member of the United States Under-23 team.

Glad they are with US!: Laura Lindsay, Frances West, and Meredith Elwell are all members of the US Under-23 team and Lorraine Vizzuso, Jessica Coleman, Becky Worthington and Carrie Goodloe are all members of the Under-19 team.

Sanders soars!: Missi Sanders, the NFCHA Coach of the Year in 1997, is continuing to add to her honors at Virgina. Her career record stands at 85-39 (68.5%). the third-highest total wins in Cavalier history for a coach. She is the first Virginia coach to go through the regular season in the conference undefeated, doing so twice (1997, 1998) and she was the first mentor to take her squad to the national semifinals (1997).