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Previously, football bye weeks were spent rejoicing in the fact that we couldn't lose. This week, however, I found myself anxious and excited for next weekend's matchup at Duke.
While we were all twiddling our thumbs, Virginia's non-football fall sports had a pretty fruitful week. Let's check it out.
Men's Soccer, currently ranked No.14, racked up two victories before heading on the road to Clemson. The Hoos traveled to George Mason to take on the Patriots. Eric Bird put Virginia ahead 1-0 in the 56th minute after a Todd Wharton shot deflected. The goal would prove to be enough, even after Darius Madison was sent off in the 76th minute, leaving the good guys down a man for the last 14 minutes of play. Virginia outshot Mason 12-8, and held a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks.
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In their second game of the week, the Hoos took down Duke 1-0, again on an Eric Bird strike. The win was the fourth straight for Virginia, and took them into a six day break with the overall record of 8-3-1 (3-1-1 ACC).
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Twelve games in, the Hoos are led in scoring by Eric Bird with three goals and two assists, with Madison in close second with three goals and one assist. Goalkeeper Calle Brown has 42 saves on the season, boasting an 89.4% save percentage and five shutouts.
No. 4 Women's Soccer totally and utterly dominated this week, taking down back to back ACC foes in Boston College and NC State. Against BC, the Hoos jumped out to a 4-2 half time lead before Boston College narrowed Virginia's lead to 4-3. After that, Virginia rattled off two straight to finish the game with a 6-3 victory. Makenzy Doniak finished with two goals and an assist, Danielle Colaprico contributed two goals and two assists, while Alexis Shaffer, Morgan Reuther, and Emily Sonnett all notched one goal (Shaffer and Reuther each had an assist as well).
As if that performance wasn't impressive enough, they followed it up with a 6-0 drubbing of the Wolfpack for their 28th straight home victory, continuing to build on the new school record. Kalli Torres had one goal and three assists, Brittany Ratcliffe scored two goals, Colaprico had another goal and two assists, while Doniak added a goal and an assist and Meghan Cox notched one goal. The Hoos outshot the Pack 31-6 and held an 11-3 advantage on corners.
Check out the highlights...especially the second and third goals. Yowzas.
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At this point in the season, the team has amassed a 13-1 (5-1 ACC) record, with the lone blemish being a loss at Florida State. Doniak leads the team in scoring with eight goals and nine assists, with Colaprico close behind with five goals and eleven assists. Ratcliffe's eight goals and four assists put her in third, and Morgan Brian closes out the top four with four goals and five assists. As a team, they have outscored opponents 50-9. Fifty. To nine.
Field Hockey had a split week, defeating Richmond 2-1 before dropping a close one to Wake Forest 4-3. The story of the season for the third-ranked Wahoos continues to be first year sensation Tara Vittese. She scored both goals against Richmond, and went for a goal and an assist against Wake. She currently leads the team with 13 goals and 15 assists, accounting for just under 25% of the teams goals scored through 15 games this season. Jeff White details Tara's Virginia legacy in a great piece this week for VirginiaSports.com. I highly recommend.
The Hoos, despite the loss to Wake Forest, are still in a four way tie for first in the ACC (tied with Louisville, UNC, Duke, and Wake). Their final ACC game comes October 24th against Boston College.
Women's Volleyball earned Virginia a half point in the Commonwealth Clash, giving the Hoos a 1.5-0 lead early on in the resurgent "challenge". Despite going down 12-25 and 17-25 in the first to games, the Cavaliers rallied and rattled off three straight wins (25-22, 25-18, 18-16) for the victory. VT led in hitting percentage, digs, blocks, and aces, but it couldn't hold back the Hoos. Natalie Bausback led UVa. with 13 kills, and Tori Janowski contributed a double double by way of 12 kills and 10 digs. Virginia will have a chance to get the full point for the season sweep on November 14th at Mem. Gym.
The Cleveland Cavaliers won their preseason exhibition game against the Miami Heat down in Rio, and Joe Harris (#swoon) continued being the greatest rookie since rookies were created. Ok, maybe a little exaggerated, but he did play 24 minutes, scored 11 points, dished four assists, and nabbed four rebounds. He went 3-8 for the game, all on three pointers, and hit two free throws to ice the game for the Cavaliers. Predictably, Harris is winning over the Cleveland fans and commentators.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Joe Harris, icer of games.</p>— FearTheSword (@FearTheSword) <a href="https://twitter.com/FearTheSword/status/521089402354016257">October 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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A Cleveland fan put together this article on the rookies, and it includes some good stuff on Joe...check it out. Also, the trip to Rio made for some fantastic photos.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Fun with team photos <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAGlobalGames?src=hash">#NBAGlobalGames</a> <a href="http://t.co/ETzBMUzWbv">pic.twitter.com/ETzBMUzWbv</a></p>— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) <a href="https://twitter.com/cavs/status/520185354914373632">October 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Taking in the view from one of the 7 Wonders of the World (Christ Redeemer for those taking notes) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAGlobalGames?src=hash">#NBAGlobalGames</a> <a href="http://t.co/vxbLHGW37G">pic.twitter.com/vxbLHGW37G</a></p>— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) <a href="https://twitter.com/cavs/status/520191424651071489">October 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Football comes back this week, so get ready for a HUGE game for the Hoos. If you can make it to Durham, tickets are cheap! 1230 start on the ACC Network. GO HOOS!