Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83494
State during a Pennsylvania road trip to begin the season, the Wahoos moved back into the top 10 in the national rankings, rattling off a 6-1 victory versus Richmond in the home opener, a record- breaking 14-0 destruction of Towson and a 5-4 upset of No. 3 Old Dominion. Yes, the Hoos are back. Not coincidentally, so A are Paige Selenski and Michelle Vittese. The two strikers were missing from the Cavaliers' roster in 2011, but they had a very good reason to take a one-year sabbatical away from Charlottesville. Selenski and Vittese spent last fall traveling with Team USA, helping the Americans to Pan Am gold and playing in other international competitions in preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The end result was both Virginia stars making the Olympic roster and traveling to London with Team USA. "The past few months were kind of like a whirl- wind," Vittese said. "Playing in the Olympics was something that was incredible and something that sort of felt a little foreign because I'd never been to the Olympic Games before, but it was great. "It was the culmination of all the work we had done. It was like the end point. I guess that sort of made me happy because I was finally able to per- form on that stage and we'd been training for two years to get that. We'd sacrificed a lot to get there and I was able to experience it." The Cavaliers had originally expected 2011, with Selenski and Vittese leading the way, to be another season in which they would compete for BY SHANE METTLEN FTER STRUGGLING TO an 8-12 record and a sixth-place finish in the ACC in 2011, the Virginia women's field hockey team looked like the Cavaliers of old to start the 2012 campaign. After splitting games versus Temple and Penn ACC and NCAA titles, but instead the suddenly young and inexperienced UVa roster had trouble winning matches in an incredibly competitive At- lantic Coast Conference. It wasn't a particularly easy decision for Sel- enski and Vittese, who were among the youngest members of the U.S. squad. Both players knew they could have made a huge difference to Vir- ginia's season and also had personal reasons for considering turning down the Team USA offer. But in the end, the prospect of playing in the Olympics was too much to pass up, particularly because both were able to redshirt 2011 and return as fourth-years this fall. "It's our senior year we are taking off and we won't be able to graduate with all the girls we came in with, so that's disappointing," Selenski said last fall. "But this was a huge opportunity for us and we had to take it. It would have been really hard for us compete in the Pan Am games and be in school. We just figured if we took the entire year off it would be easier and we can come back and have our entire fourth year left." The United States team went into the Olympics with high hopes of making the medal stand in London. Team USA had surprised many — with Selenski and Vittese playing key roles — by beat- ing Argentina to take the Pan Am Games title and secure a spot in the 12-team Olympic tournament. "I think this Olympic Games is a big toss up," Vittese said over the summer before leaving for London. "Every team is capable of almost any- thing. I think a realistic expectation is getting on the podium anywhere, from first to third. Anything would be incredible. Obviously, gold is everyone's ultimate goal. There's a lot of work to be done in the next two months, but it's possible." But once in London, the Olympics proved to be tough on the Americans. The United States went 1-5 and finished the tournament in 12th place. CAVALIER CORNER ◆ OCTOBER 2012 ◆ 27