Virginia erupted for three goals in a span of six minutes to break open a close game and then survived a late charge by Northeastern to win 4-2 in Charlottesville, Va.
"Virginia's a good team and to get ourselves our of a 3-0 hole is tough no matter who you're playing against," head coach Cheryl Murtagh said. "However, we learned a lot from this experience and if we make some changes defensively we should be competitive nationallly."
NU senior Melissa Rowell scored her second goal in as many games, which cut the Cavaliers lead to 4-2, but the Huskies couldn't overcome its 4-1 second-half deficit. Sophomore Jay Quinn netted her first goal of the 2003 season.
The Huskies started the game on the offensive and created some scoring opportunities early in the first half. But, when NU lacked the finishing touch, the door was left open for hosts.
Virginia's Katie Nicholson sandwiched a pair of goals around Mia Link's first collegiate marker, as the Cavaliers scored on three penalty corner plays to take a 3-0 lead with 10:14 to play in the first half. UVA's Logan Carr made six saves, including stopping a corner scramble after time expired, to hold the Huskies at bay.
The Huskies drew a corner with just under five minutes to play in the half and after the initial play was disrupted, Quinn collected the ball on the left side and put it in the cage, pulling Northeastern within two at 3-1 with 4:29 to go in the stanza. The half ended with the Cavaliers up 3-1.
Virginia got on the board after Allison Flynn forced a corner halfway through the first stanza. The Cavaliers were awarded a second consecutive corner on a second defensive foul, and on the play a Katie Phillips shot was saved by NU's Diana Nelson, but Nicholson dug the ball out from the keeper's pads and put it in the boards for the score.
Flynn drew another corner three minutes later as she took a feed from Link into the circle. Again the initial direct shot was saved, but the ball was played dangerously, giving the Hoos a second corner. The Cavaliers worked a give-and-go and Sarah Miller fired a shot to the left of the cage that was tipped to the boards by Link, putting Virginia up 2-0.
Flynn again forced a corner along the endline and Katie Jo Gerfen took the direct shot that was again saved by Nelson. Again Nicholson dug the ball out and put it past the keeper for a 3-0 lead with 10:14 to play in the half, forcing the Huskies to take a timeout.
Neither team was able to get much of an advantage in the early part of the second half, but the Cavaliers drew a corner with just under 10 minutes to play. Phillips' shot was saved out to the left, but Gerfen caught up with it and sent it back into the circle where Dana Anderson collected it, pulled right around the keeper, and sent it to the boards for a 4-1 lead with 9:45 to play. The Huskies answered right back as redshirt freshman Megan Troxell brought the ball up the right and passed it off to Rowell, who collected it at the top of the circle and sent it to the left post just past Carr to make the score 4-2 with 9:09 to play.
Northeastern drew a corner as time expired and UVA was unable to clear the first attempt out of the circle before giving up a second corner. The second corner resulted in a scramble at the goal mouth and the Huskies were awarded a penalty stroke. The attempt sailed to the right of the cage, ending the game.
The win was Virginia's 37th consecutive at home against out-of-state, non-conference opponents and 12 consecutive home openers.
Field Hockey Box Score (Final)
The Automated ScoreBook For Field Hockey
Northeastern vs Virginia (Sep 01, 2003 at Charlottesville, VA)
Northeastern (1-1, 0-0 AE) vs. Goals by period 1 2 Tot
Virginia (1-0, 0-0 ACC) -------------------------------
Date: Sep 01, 2003 Attendance: 325 Northeastern........ 1 1 - 2
Weather: Virginia............ 3 1 - 4
Northeastern Virginia
Pos # Player Sh G A DS Pos # Player Sh G A DS
----------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
G 77 Diana Nelson........ - - - - G 0 Logan Carr.......... - - - -
F 3 Sara Webber......... 3 - - - M 1 Allison Flynn....... - - - -
F 4 Liane Dixon......... 2 - - - M 4 Mia Link............ 1 1 - -
B 5 Leigh Shea.......... - - - - M 7 Aly Curmaci......... - - - -
F 9 Mari Creatini....... 2 - - - F 8 Katie Nicholson..... 4 2 - -
F 14 Natalie Singelais... - - - - B 9 Sarah Miller........ - - - -
B 15 Melissa Rowell...... 1 1 - - M 12 Katie Phillips...... 3 - - -
B 20 Alli Bolster........ - - - - B 13 Erin Hayes.......... - - - -
M 21 Megan Troxel........ - - 1 - F 16 Biffy Cornelison.... - - - -
B 22 Lauren Edelmeier.... - - - - B 20 Katie Jo Gerfen..... 3 - 1 -
M 24 Whitney Shean....... - - - - F 22 Dana Anderson....... 1 1 - -
---------- Substitutes ---------- ---------- Substitutes ----------
16 Nicole DePace....... - - - - 3 Juli Bojanic........ - - - -
18 Heather Bernstein... - - - - 23 Lindsey Selfridge... - - - -
19 Jay Quinn........... 2 1 - - Totals.............. 12 4 1 0
Totals.............. 10 2 1 0
Northeastern Virginia
# Player MIN GA Saves # Player MIN GA Saves
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
77 Diana Nelson........ 70:00 4 5 0 Logan Carr.......... 70:00 2 6
Shots by period 1 2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Northeastern........ 3 7 - 10 Northeastern........ 3 2 - 5
Virginia............ 8 4 - 12 Virginia............ 1 5 - 6
Penalty corners 1 2 Tot
-------------------------------
Northeastern........ 3 4 - 7
Virginia............ 5 3 - 8
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team Goal Scorer Assists Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 18:32 UVA Katie Nicholson (1) Unassisted
2. 21:45 UVA Mia Link (1) Sarah Miller
3. 30:31 UVA Katie Nicholson (2) Unassisted
4. 34:46 NU Jay Quinn (1) Unassisted
5. 60:15 UVA Dana Anderson (1) Katie Jo Gerfen
6. 60:51 NU Melissa Rowell (2) Megan Troxel
