Charlottesville, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW): September is nearing its end, with and most of the teams around Grounds at UVA are in the thick of conference play.  It can be daunting to keep up with them all, but that’s where we come in. Here is your Wahoo Rundown for the week of September 24th, 2024. 

It turned into a frustrating week overall for UVA’s Fall Sports squads at large, but let’s start with the good news.  Football is back to winning ways.  The Hoos put their disappointment against Maryland behind them, and headed to Conway, South Carolina this past Saturday for a 43-24 day-at-the-beach vs The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.  WINA’s Jay Hart has a full recap of the Hoos’ triumph, and you can read it HERE.   Offensively nearly everything clicked for UVA, and they can head into the bye week with a comfortable record, and with the shifted to the defense, before they get to back to work against Boston College the first weekend in October.  More on that game later. 

UVA Field Hockey is the highest ranked squad on Grounds after a frustrating soccer weekend.  The Hoos are ranked #3 in the nation and are yet to lose a game.  They began ACC play over the weekend, welcoming the California Golden Bears.  The battle between two skilled, deep, squads lived up to its billing, as the clash was back and forth right to the bitter end.  Although, if you ask the Hoos, they would say they meant to run away with it.  Goals from Lily Hengerer, Taryn Tkachuk, and two from Daniela Mendez-Trendler, thanks largely to sloppy Cal defense, put them 4-1 up as the fourth quarter began.  However, UVA began to let up, losing some polish of their on the defensive end, conceded a penalty corner, which Maya Hoepfner converted, and surrendering another goal to Liz Klompmaker (her second of the match).   However, the Hoos survived and maintained their perfect record.  They closed the homestand out on Sunday vs Stanford with an effort more to their liking, rolling to a 5-1 victory.  Jans Croon and Noa Boterman got the Hoos out to an early 2-0 lead, before the visitors scored their only goal of the match at the start of the second half off of a penalty corner.  UVA proceeded to put the game away following that goal, with three more unanswered goals courtesy of Suze Leemans, Emma Watchilla, and Boterman for the second time in the match. In the end, they will carry their 7-0 record down the road to Durham for what promises to be an excellent match, against a fellow national top five member, the Duke Blue Devils.   That game is this Friday, September 28th, at 4:00 PM, on ACCNX.  The Hoos will then return home on Sunday to take on Wiliam and Mary at 1:00 PM on ACCNX.   Duke is on a bad run of form recently, coming off a 0-1 defeat at #12 Liberty, and a shootout defeat to #10 St. Joseph’s.  At time of writing, the William and Mary Tribe have yet to win a Field Hockey match this fall.   

Inclement weather postponed UVA’s talented Women’s Soccer team from taking to the pitch on Saturday night.  They entered play as the 14th top team in the nation, and battled national #16, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.  Both teams came out swinging as the first half began, they pressed each other heavily, and forced quite a few saves out of both goalkeepers.  Victoria Safradin, UVA’s keeper, made five saves in the first half alone to keep the match scoreless at the interval.  Unfortunately, the UVA defense lost focus after they came back out for the second half.  The Irish saw an opening, as Grace Restovich sent a through ball behind the line to Annabelle Chukwu, who then beat Safradin with a shot across the goal to give the visitors the lead.  Sadly, for the home fans, that lead would not be relinquished, as the vaunted UVA attack could not find a way to beat the Irish back line.  This was the second consecutive loss for the Hoos, now 0-2 in ACC play.  They will look to get back to winning way against the #8 North Carolina Tar Heels at 7:00 PM on Friday.  That game will be broadcast on ACCNX.   The Heels have lost only one game this year, and are coming their tenth win of the year, a 1-0 victory against the Syracuse Orange.   

As for Men’s Soccer, they headed to the West Coast for an ACC clash with California on Saturday night.  After a physical, yellow-card heavy match with Wake Forest last time out, the Hoos picked up where they left off as the first half began.  When the dust settled, 24 total fouls were committed by both teams, seven of which went into the referee’s book with yellow cards shown.  Both defenses played with stellar strength and steady communication, and both keepers made excellent saves on what looked like sure goals.  Though UVA had a slight possession advantage (51%-49%), nothing separated the sides at the interval.  The match would not see a breakthrough until the 55th minute.  Joey Batrouni and the UVA backline were fortunate to have an effort knocked away, but Gaku Nishimura buried an ambitious but powerful deflection volley just under the crossbar.  The high-risk high-reward goal gave the home side a well-earned 1-0 lead.  The Hoos wasted no time in finding an answer, as at the other end, defender Paul Wiese knocked in a cross, which was then struck in at close range by forward Kome Ubogu to tie the match at 1.  Despite great chances at either end, the match ended with both squads earning a point for a 1-1 draw.  The Hoos will make another attempt at taking three points in ACC play this Friday night at 7:00 PM from Klocker Stadium against national #1 Stanford.  The game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.  Stanford is coming off a 2-2 draw with Duke, and have only lost one game in 2024.  

UVA Volleyball has dropped only one match in 2024, and they took on Middle Tennessee State for two games on Tuesday and Wednesday this past week.  The Hoos won out on Tuesday (25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 25-21), coming up just short in set two.  Set two was riddled with errors for UVA, totaling 10 in attack throughout.  However, standout performances from Brooklyn Borum, Abby Tadder, and Ashley Le allowed the home team to carry the day.  Le notched 28 assists and 17 digs, while Tadder and Borum combined for 28 kills across four sets.  Tadder, Borum, and Kadynce Booth notched 13 kills in set four alone to put the match out of reach.  The following day, Middle Tennessee to the match to five sets, but it was not enough to come out the victors in Memorial Gym, as the Hoos won another match (19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-12, 15-6).  The Blue Raiders neutralized a 9-8 lead for the Hoos in the first set, and took advantage of several Cavalier errors to go a 6-0 run, and took an early lead.  Set three also started well for UVA, but the visitors won seven of the next eight points to erase a 6-4 lead.  The Hoos made a stand at set point, winning five straight points, but it was not enough as Middle Tennessee took a 2-1 lead in the match.   18 points into set four, no one demonstrated an advantage, as the set was tied at nine.  However, the Hoos chose their moment well and went on a 16-3 run to win the set and tie the match.  Set five ended the match quietly.  The Hoos got out to an 8-2 lead, and then 7-2 on the final nine points to bring the party to a close.    Now at 10-1, UVA begins ACC play on Friday at 7:00 PM against Wake Forest on the road, and the road trip continues against NC State on Sunday at 1:00 PM. Both matches will be on ACCNX.  Wake in 8-3 this year, coming off victories against Davidson and Appalachian State.   The Wolfpack in 5-3, most recently winning vs VCU and falling to Coastal Carolina at home.   

Elsewhere on the schedule, at time of writing, Men’s Golf sits third as a team at the Valero Texas Collegiate.  They are currently 12 under par, behind Oklahoma in second and Ole Miss in first. Ole Miss leads Oklahoma by a stroke, 23 under to 22 under.  Paul Chang and Ben James are in action at the time of writing as the final group for the Hoos, and we will bring you an update next week on the rundown.  Women’s Golf teed off today in the Cavalier Regional Preview, and are in action at the time of writing.  The tournament continues tomorrow. 

Swim and Dive get their season under this weekend, as both the men and women battle Navy in a Dual Meet in Charlottesville.  The Meet begins on Saturday, September 28th at 9:00 AM with the diving portion of the competition.  Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country heads to the Midwest on Friday, September 27th, for the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.  And lastly, ITA All-American play continues for both the Men’s and Women’s Tennis Team.   

That completes your weekly Wahoo Rundown.  Take every opportunity to cheer your Hoos, and enjoy the Wahoo Rundown in audio form on the Best Seat in the House, weekdays at 5:00 PM on Newsradio WINA.