Charlottesville, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW): We have reached the middle of the penultimate month of 2024, and with it, the middle of crossover season between the fall and winter sports seasons.  Football, Soccer, and Field Hockey are wrapping up, while Basketball, Squash, and Swim and Dive have hit the ground running.  There is plenty of action to bring you in this week’s Wahoo Rundown, let’s get to it! 

First, Wahoo Football travelled to South Bend, Indiana after a huge upset win at Pittsburgh last week.  Entering play against #8 Notre Dame, the Hoos sat at one win away from bowl eligibility and three games left to get it.  However, they would not get it on Saturday, as the Irish rolled to a 35-14 triumph in front of the home fans.  You can find Jay James’ report on the game HERE. Next up, back at Scott Stadium this Saturday, the Hoos battle the ACC leading SMU Mustangs, who are at 9-1 overall and are yet to lose after 6 games in conference play.  Last time, the Mustangs hit Boston College hard, winning by ten points, 38-28.  The game is at noon on ACCNX and Newsradio WINA. 

Two games this week for Men’s Basketball, one game that was an expected victory, and the other predicted to be much tougher.  As expected, the Hoos rolled over the Coppin State Eagles on Monday Night at John Paul Jones Arena, 62-45.  Slightly unexpectedly, against a Villanova team on Friday that, though depleted and somewhat listless since Jay Wright’s departure in 2022, was favored going in, UVA made it two wins from two this week beating the Wildcats 70-60 at a neutral site in Baltimore on Friday.  Reports from Jaclyn Piermarini and Jay James on the Coppin State game can be found HERE, and the Villanova game can be found HERE.  Next up is a tropical holiday for the Hoos, as they head to the Bahamas to face #11 Tennessee in Nassau, tipoff is at 9:30pm, you can listen on Newsradio WINA or watch on CBS.  Tennessee is yet to lose and blew out Austin Peay 103-68 last time out.   

Also notching two wins from two this week was the UVA Women’s Basketball team.   Coming off a tough defeat against Oklahoma last week, Coach Mox and the Hoos needed a bounce back, and against Radford on Wednesday and La Salle on Sunday, a bounce back was exactly what they got.  Despite some shaky defense in parts, the Hoos earned two home blowout wins, 83-49 over Radford on Wednesday, and 76-47 over La Salle on Sunday.  Jay James has reports on Radford HERE, and La Salle HERE. The Hoos have Alabama State on Wednesday night at 7 and Bethune Cookman on Sunday at 4, both games are on ACCNX and Newsradio WINA.  The Hornets of Alabama State are 2-1 but lost to Mississippi State last time out 83-29.  The Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman are 1-2 on the year, losing 54-50 to Georgia Southern last time out.   The Cavalier also made a high-profile High School addition from the Chapel Hill area on signing day last week.  Gabby White was inked to a financial aid agreement; White is a two-time all-state selection.  The Seaforth High School product has put up great career numbers, including 1,390 points, 839 rebounds, 352 assists, 312 steals and 110 blocks. 

Regular season action marched on for UVA Volleyball, who took a trip to the coast this past weekend to take on Stanford and California.  On Thursday night, the Hoos tangled with the #7 Cardinal, and the home team played like the ranked team they were, swiftly sweeping away the Hoos.  UVA kept it competitive in set one, keeping pace with 10 different ties, along with a well-timed 8-1 run in the dying moments.  However, Stanford rolled at the best possible time and won the set 25-20.  A Zoey Dodd ace was the highlight of set two for UVA, the closest they got to taking the lead was 13-12 midway through the set, but Stanford held on and held off the Hoos to win comfortably 25-17. The Hoos jumped out to a 4-2 lead in set three, and Elayna Duprey chipped in with two kills to restore some hope in set three, it did not last long, as the Cardinals saw the match over the line was solid, rhythmic, cohesive play, handing the Hoos their seventh loss on the year.  Undeterred, the Hoos marched into California’s home gym and ground out a hard-fought victory against the Golden Bears to make it an even 20 wins for the year.  The win was earned in large part thanks to Milan Gomillion, who earned a whopping 37 digs in the match, the second most in a single match in program history, second only to the 40 Emily Rothman hit against Clemson in 2012.  The Hoos looked like a different side in the match, playing exceptionally well as a team, showing good court awareness and communication.  After some misfires in set one that gave the Golden Bears a 25-18 victory, the Hoos swiftly got back on track in set two.  The Bears went on a 6-1 run to start, followed by a 7-0 run from the Hoos to give them the lead, they then tied each other at 15, before the Hoos scored five of the last six points, getting set two over the line to tie the match with a victory, 25-20.  The home team looked to take a big advantage towards the end of set three, rattling off a 5-0 breaking away from a 15-15 tie, but the Hoos stormed all the way back to tie the match at 24.  After earning the last four points of the match, the Hoos won the set 26-24.  Another back and forth began the final set going to 12-12 to start set four, but the Hoos took control with a 9-2 run, courtesy of a Heyli Velasquez ace.  21-14 proved to be a big enough lead for the Hoos to control, and despite a late comeback attempt from Cal, the Hoos had done enough, winning the set 25-17, and the match, 3-1.  This squad is rapidly approaching the mark set by the 2006 Volleyball for the most wins in a season with 23, the 2024 team is three wins away with four matches left.  Two of those matches are against ranked teams however, and one is coming up this Friday at Memorial Gymnasium, as the #3 Louisville Cardinals come to town for a 7:00 PM start on ACCNX, followed by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 1:00 PM Sunday, also on ACCNX.  The Cardinals are 23-3 on the year, with win #23 coming against #25 North Carolina last time out, 3-0.  The Irish are 10-15 on the year at time of writing coming off a 3-1 win vs Duke and will play Virginia Tech before coming to Charlottesville.   

Despite an early exit from the ACC tournament, the UVA Field Hockey team looked to make noise in the NCAA tournament that began on Friday with a battle against the Michigan Wolverines. The Hoos put their last defeat out of sight and mind quickly courtesy of a Suze Leemans rocket 20 minutes into the match off of a rebound shot from Jans Croon. Daniela Mendez-Trendler doubled the Hoos’ advantage with a goal that Caroline Nemec helped set up, and after a Michigan consolation goal from Kate McLaughlin that too-little-too-late, the Hoos were headed to the quarterfinals to battle #2 Northwestern on Sunday.   Despite allowing the hosts the majority of possession, the Hoos took the lead with a very late goal in the first half that once again came from Suze Leemans.  The goal looked eerily like Leemans’ Michigan goal, as her shooting opportunity again came from a rebounded shot off the stick of Jans Croon.   Elaine Velthuizen equalized for Northwestern seconds into the second half, followed by Ashley Sessa scoring ten minutes later to put Virginia behind.  Mia Abello took advantage of a promising opportunity seconds in the fourth quarter, and though her shot went wide, Mendez-Trender was there to bury the rebound and tie the game.  The match went into overtime after Northwestern missed a late penalty corner, and UVA avoided an extremely heartbreaking end to their season, but only for a little while.  Another blocked penalty corner attempt from Northwestern kept the game alive for UVA, but sadly, Lauren Wadas converted a corner earned not long after the first miss to send the Hoos packing, 4-3.  Head Coach Ole Keugsen summed up the sentiment best, “…if you end the season or even your career, this is how you want to end it. We left literally everything we had on the field.” 

Also opening NCAA tournament play on Friday was the UVA Women’s Soccer team.  Their opponents would be the Princeton Tigers, and the fourth seeded Hoos got out of the blocks strong with a comeback win at Klockner Stadium, by a score of 2-1.  Zoe Markesini initiated an attack from a midfield turnover six minutes into the game that Pietra Tordin finished with clever footwork around Virginia Keeper Victoria Safradin to put the visitors 1-0 ahead.  Veteran midfielder Lia Godfrey was not going to see one of her final games on the pitch at Klockner end in defeat, as the senior sent a beautiful through ball toward the run of Yuna McCormick.  The midfielder, who earned her first cap for Team USA this season, sent a screamer from distance into the bottom corner to tie the match at 1 14 minutes in.  After the interval, Godfrey went off on a marauding run from end to end, with no one able to get the ball from her, before slotting the ball to Maggie Cagle on a neat through ball in towards the net.  The skillful forward buried the chance for her seventh goal of the year, sending the fans into eruption.  Cagle’s strike proved decisive, and the Hoos marched on to the second round.   This Friday, the Hoos head to Irvine, California, where the Badgers of Wisconsin will be waiting for them.  Kickoff is at 5:00 PM Eastern time.  Wisconsin is coming off a 3-1 victory against Maine in the 1st round.  The winner of this match will face either St. Louis University or USC.   

As for Men’s Soccer, they found themselves on an underdog run through the ACC tournament over the course of the last few days.  Before Thursday’s semi-final against Wake Forest, the Hoos beat 9th seeded NC State and 1-seeded Pittsburgh on the road before heading to Winston-Salem for a wet, treacherous, match.  One team proved more ready than the other in North Carolina on Thursday. Virginia looked a bit depleted from three road trips for three matches, and the Demon Deacons ran rampant over them, winning 5-1.  Tristan Beauvois broke up the shutout in the 55th minute courtesy of Paul Wiese, whose assist put him 7th on the all-time list in UVA Program History.  However, that was the only positive for the Hoos on a night to forget for UVA.  They will hope for an at-large bid in the selection show for the NCAA Tournament set to take place this Monday afternoon, November 18th.   

The Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country teams were in action in the NCAA Southeastern Regional in Rock Hill, South Carolina.   The Hoos entered the meet with two ranked teams, the Men at #13, and the Women at #15, and had a stellar weekend of competition.  In the 6K, Margot Appleton and Jenny Schilling finished fifth and sixth for the Hoos, their top finishers in the race, behind them were Gillian Bushee in 21st, Sophie Atkisson in 24th, and Tatum David rounding out the Top 30 in 30th in a field of 251 runners.  Those finishes were good for a team finish of second place with 85 points for the Hoos, besting both North Carolina and Wake Forest in the process.  On the men’s side, Gary Martin and Will Anthony were the Hoos’ top two, finishing 8th and 9th in a field of 240.  Thanks to Andrew Jones, Nate Mountain and Wes Porter also finishing in the top 30, the Hoos finished with a team total of 79 points, good for 1st in the team standings.  Those finishes, 1st for the men and 2nd for the women, will send both teams to the NCAA championships this Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin.   

As we come to the end of another rundown, both #6 ranked Squash teams began their season over the weekend.  The Women faced a pair of Ivy League opponents in Columbia and Yale, and beat them both, 9-0 over Columbia, and 8-1 over Yale.  The Men, facing the same opponents, came up short against Yale (7-2) but also beat Columbia (6-3).  The Men will face #1 Penn at home this Saturday, and the Women will also face the #3 ranked Penn at home on Sunday.  The Penn Men’s team is 5-0 coming off a win against Chatham 9-0, and the Women’s team also beat Chatham 9-0, and is yet to lose in the young campaign.

Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive is in action at the Tennessee Invitational starting November 19th in Knoxville.  Several members of the UVA Tennis team commence their runs at the NCAA Tennis Championships in Waco, Texas, also beginning November 19th.  Wrestling takes part in a military appreciation duel against the Michigan Wolverines on Sunday at 7:00 PM on ACCNX.  Lastly, the Softball team completed its Blue and Orange Series games last week and made several signings on Signing Day last Wednesday.   Seven signings were announced, they are outfielder Jaiden Griffith of Williamston High in Michigan, infielder Edith Kaplan of Mountainview High in Alabama, right-handed pitcher Karly Meredith of Kaukauna High School in Wisconsin, Catcher Hannah Weismer of Kingsway Regional High in New Jersey, right-handed pitcher Taylor Smith of Catoctin High in Maryland, and two Virginia products, infielder Addison Reasor of Christiansburg High, and infielder Hannah Tober of New Kent.   

 

That wraps up this week’s rundown, keep an eye on Cvillerightnow.com for all things UVA sports!  Go Hoos!