One Virginia squad that has not received the media attention it really should is the Virginia Field Hockey team. While the football team is trying to make a comeback and impress any pair of eyes who will give them the time of day. the field hockey team has already settled near the top of the collegiate world.
I know what you're thinking. "Brian, since when did you follow field hockey?" Well the order in which I follow sports is this: Men's Basketball, Football, Men's Lacrosse, and then any national-title contender. Right now, that's the Cavaliers' Field Hockey team. They're sitting pretty at 14-2 (1-2 ACC). Those two losses have come to No. 1 Maryland and No. 2 North Carolina, leaving them ranked No. 3 in the country. They've already beaten then-No. 4 Wake Forest, who they face again in a week after both teams rest for nearly an entire week.
This is without a doubt UVA's best season in a long, long time. Their 10-0 start was the best start in thirty years, and I only picked that record because I don't have the media book in front of me to look deeper into history.
Virginia's outscored their opponents by a margin of 54-14. We're more than doubling our opponent in shot attempts, looking at 279-107. We're getting more penalty corners, assists, and basically you name it, we're dominating our opponents in it.
This is why Virginia Field Hockey is ranked third in the nation and well worth your time. The Hoos travel to Winston-Salem on Saturday, but they'll be back in cozy Charlottesville on October 28 for a battle against Radford. There are only three more games left in the regular season. If you haven't gotten a chance to see your Lady Wahoos in action yet, you're missing out.
"Right now we know we can match up with any of the top teams in the country," sophomore Paige Selenski said. "We feel like we’ll be ready for anything when it comes to [the ACC and NCAA tournaments]."