UVa sports weekend recap: Hoos open field hockey season with a win

Virginia's Minnie Pollock celebrates her goal against Penn State on Friday.

The No. 6 Virginia field hockey team opened the 2023 season with a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Penn State on Friday at the UVa Turf Field.

Grad student Laura Janssen and freshman Minnie Pollock each scored a goal for the Cavaliers (1-0).

Penn State (0-1) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Natalie Freeman scored a goal with four minutes left in the second quarter, but Virginia came out firing early in the second half.

Pollock fell to her knees while delivering a pass to Janssen for a goal that tied the game 1:29 into the third quarter. Janssen and Pollock also worked together on the game-winner, this time with Janssen setting up Pollock’s goal 3:28 into the fourth quarter.

“I think we had a little first game jitters but once we found our way out of that, we were able to connect some good passes," Virginia coach Michele Madison said. "We started really strong in the first half, and we were able to sustain the tempo of the game, which is really important moving forward.”

The Cavaliers outshot Penn State 8-1 in the final period. Junior goalkeeper Tyler Kennedy, who was making her first start since Sept. 16 of last season, made six saves. Junior Noa Boterman had two defensive saves.

Maggie Cagle recorded her second brace of the season and the Virginia defense had another clean sheet in the No. 5 Cavaliers' 4-0 win over George Mason on Sunday night in Fairfax

Virginia (3-0-1) got on the board in the sixth minute with the first of Cagle's two goals. The Hoos’ second goal came in the 27th minute on a header from Talia Staude that went into upper corner of the back post.

Cagle scored for the second time in the 58th minute, then Allie Ross capped the scoring for the Cavaliers with a goal in the 88th minute.

The four goals were more than enough for the Virginia defense, which has yet to allow a goal in four matches this season.

“We are happy to get the result today on the road," Virginia head coach Steve Swanson said. "I thought we did some good things on the attacking end and finished some nice goals. We still have improvement that we must make on both sides of the ball, but we are progressing as a team and that is most important at this stage in the season.”

The Virginia men’s soccer team gave up two early goals and never recovered in a 3-1 loss to Loyola Marymount on Sunday night at Klöckner Stadium.

Just over a minute into the match, LMU’s Jovan Prado whipped a cross into the Virginia penalty area to Ryan Kingsford, who tapped it home to give the Lions (1-0-1) a 1-0 lead.

Loyola Marymount doubled its advantage 14 minutes later when Lewis Clutton scored on a rebound. Virginia (1-1) got on the board later in the first half when Leo Afonso converted a penalty kick to trim the lead to 2-1, but that was a close as the Cavaliers would get.

Kingsford ended UVa's comeback hopes late in the second half with his second goal of the night. The Lions had a chance to add a fourth goal when the referee whistled for an LMU penalty kick in the 89th minute of play. However, Jovan Prado’s attempt from the spot was stopped by Virginia keeper Joey Batrouni.

“We didn’t deserve to win," Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. "They were a physical, strong, athletic team that came in and took advantage of some big mistakes that we made early in the game. When you play a team like that, you gift them some goals in the early moments, then you’re fighting off your back. And that’s definitely what happened.”

The Virginia volleyball team split its two matches in the Cavalier Classic over the weekend, sweeping Rider on Friday before falling to Rutgers in five sets on Saturday.

In Friday's season opener, the Cavaliers (1-1) got strong showings from side hitter Chloe Wilson (13 kills, 4 blocks), newcomer Ciera Hecht (11 kills) and middle blocker Abby Tadder (10 kills, 11 attempts) in a 25-12, 25-20, 25-17 victory.

On Saturday, setter Ashley Le had 46 assists and a career best 24 digs, while middle blocker Abby Tadder Tadder posted a match-high 17 kills as well as four blocks in a 26-24, 22-25, 25-17, 20-25, 16-14 loss to Rutgers.

Football: The Cavaliers kick off the season on Saturday in Nashville against No. 12 Tennessee (noon, ABC).

Field hockey: UVa hosts No. 14 Liberty on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Turf Field, then heads to Philadelphia for a pair of weekend games. The Hoos will take on Saint Joseph's on Friday at 4 p.m. and Temple at 12 p.m. Sunday.

Volleyball: Virginia will travel to New York for the Big Apple Tournament. The Cavaliers face Quinnipiac Friday at 4 p.m. and Columbia on Saturday at noon. Both matches are set to be broadcast on ESPN+.

Cross country: The Cavaliers head to Richmond on Saturday for the Spider Alumni Open. The race is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m.

Men's soccer: Virginia plays hosts to in-state foe George Mason on Thursday at 8 p.m. in its only game this week. The Hoos will host Maryland on Labor Day at 7 p.m.

Women's soccer: UVa has a pair of home games this week. The Cavaliers host West Virginia on Thursday at 6 p.m. and VCU on Sunday at 2 p.m.

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