This past Saturday, while the rest of the student body was sleeping in, the Red (8-2, 2-1 Ivy) gave its all against the toughest opponent of the season, No. 3 Virginia (12-1). In front of a crowd of 225 hollering fans on the road, the Red held its own but fell, 3-0, to the ACC powerhouse Cavaliers. The Red fell to 1-2 all-time against the elite Virginia program.

After a record-setting start to the season with a blazing seven wins, the Red has hit a rough patch, losing its past two games, including one in overtime against Ivy League rival Yale.

The Red came away from the loss with a resilient perspective. “We look at it game by game, so I think that although we lost 3-0 we really played well as a team together … [it was a] good challenge,” said senior co-captain Kelley Kantarian. “We came out [of the competition] with a lot of stuff to work on.”Down but not out: Senior goalkeeper Mel Jue (33) made nine saves in the first half of Saturday’s game against No. 3 Virginia, keeping the contest close. The Cavaliers outshot the Red on the day, 24-4.

The Cavs and the Red have both been well-known to come onto the field strong and score early; however, it was the Cavs who managed to overwhelm the Red in the first 35 minutes. Virginia notched all three scores within the first 35 against senior goalkeeper Mel Jue, who also made nine saves in the first half to keep the game close. The Virginia offensive onslaught proved to be too much, as the Cavs outshot the Red, 24-4, and had 10 penalty corners to a lone one for the Red.

The eighth-best scorer in the nation, sophomore midfielder Paige Selenski scored two goals on nine shots in the contest, with another added by junior forward Kaitlyn Hiltz.

On the other side, it was a dim day for the Red offense. However, forward Kantarian managed to put two on goal, testing the prowess of both Virginia goalkeepers, sophomore Adrienne Ostoff and junior Kim Kastuk.

The Red put on a strong defensive performance in the second half as sophomore goalkeeper Alex Botte made six saves and prevented the landslide scoring that often occurs in contests between highly-ranked and unranked teams.

In practice this week, the team will be focusing on “working together using each other on the field, ball speed and [the] attack game.”

The Red will face its third Ivy League opponent of the season this upcoming Saturday when the team plays at home against Harvard (4-6, 1-2 Ivy). The Red will hope to preserve its unbeaten record at home, and notch an important Ivy win as the team is currently 2-1 within the League.

According to Kantarian, the Red is “looking forward to playing [against Harvard] … the intensity and the competition of the Ivy League games is always exciting.”

The Red will hope to take the lessons from last weekend to heart and rally together to add another Ivy win.