Virginia spent the primary couple of minutes of its sport towards Penn State area hockey attempting discover the spark to set off its momentum.
And, as soon as they discovered it, the Nittany Lions couldn’t catch up quick sufficient to match it.
Friday was the house opener at Blissful Valley and official begin of the NCAA Division I area hockey season. No. 16 Penn State finally fell to No. 3 Virginia at dwelling 2-1.
“Virginia is an excellent group,” Coach Lisa Bervinchak Love stated. “They’re very expert. Their forwards and their middies are very expert.”
That was evident from the beginning, particularly in the best way that Virginia was faster to the ball, extra in charge of it, and the way they moved as a unit. The complete squad moved into advantageous positions on the sector to assist their teammates ahead motion.
Simply over 4 minutes into the sport, a sequence of passes from an aerial to the bottom would ship the ball to Noa Boterman. She then despatched it within the path of Sloan Davidson, who then went one-on-one with freshman goalkeeper Aby Deverka. Davidson landed the primary purpose for Virginia.
All through a lot of the sport, junior midfielder Daniela Mendez-Trendler was seen everywhere in the area disrupting passes.
Deverka’s debut was a great one. She made some key saves on Mendez-Trendler, Taryn Tkachuk and Mia Abello that might have given the blue and white a giant deficit to climb out of. The primary yr scholar from Texas had 11 saves on the day.
“I feel she confirmed some nice composure again there,” Love stated.
Virginia’s model was stuffed with paced balls and defensive double-teams that prevented Penn State from getting into the circle. The Nittany Lion again line needed to work onerous to be on prime of the Cavalier’s highly effective offense that had 13 photographs on purpose in comparison with Penn State’s one.
There have been a number of close to misses just like the Cavalier’s Jans Croon’s within the third, however Deverka occurred.
Virginia earned its fourth nook with six minutes remaining within the third however it might be unsuccessful because the Penn State protection created havoc. Shortly after the Cavalier’s nook, Penn State’s Aubrey Semler would run the ball down the sector solely to have a whistle finish her run.
The Nittany Lion’s first nook got here within the third. It was simply what they wanted to attempt to crack the cage. They went for 4 consecutive penalty corners with the final one being a tough rip from Phia Gladieux into the underside left nook. The ball nailed the put up after which angled into the cage. Julienne Van Bekkum assisted with the insert.
The sport was even at 1-1.
Passing improved drastically for the Nittany Lions over the course of the second half however they nonetheless had some issues getting the ball previous Virginia’s again line. Penn State was not happening straightforward as Sophia Mannino had an attractive shot on purpose however it was lined up by the Virginia goalkeeper Tyler Kennedy.
A disorganized backfield led to a Virginia nook with three minutes to go. This is able to find yourself altering the sport as Croon took a shot off the nook cross which was saved by Deverka, however the rebound acquired free and picked up by Caroline Nemec to make the sport 2-1.
Cavalier followers cheered because the Penn State offense couldn’t get the ball to the cage with the remaining three minutes.
“I feel they have been doing a great job of shutting us down,” Gladieux stated after the sport. “They’ve a great one versus one protection, and I feel they’re simply actually robust on the ball.”
Virginia begins their season 1-0 as they are going to tackle Temple on September 6. As for the Nittany Lions, they fall 0-1 and have Syracuse on September 1.
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