Former UVa running back Tiki Barber, the ACC Player of the Year in 1996, had his jersey retired during the Virginia Tech game at the end of this season.  Defensive end Chris Long, this year’s ACC Defensive Player of the Year, also had his jersey retired.

 See more at www.virginiasports.com

http://www.virginiasports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=88791&SPID=10606&ATCLID=1326326&DB_OEM_ID=17800

Mamadi Diane led Virginia with 22 points and Sean Singletary added a career-high 10 assists to lead Virginia to a 94-52 win over Northwestern Wildcats in the ninth annual ACC/Big Ten challenge. The Wahoos made 16 3-pointers and rushed to an early lead from which the Wildcats never recovered.

For more, see ESPN.com:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=273310258

The men’s basketball team upset the University of Arizona, the number 17 team in the country, 75-72 Saturday night.  The Cavaliers were led by senior guard Sean Singletary, who scored 24 points, in particular two free throws and a 15-foot jump shot towards the end of the game to give Virginia the lead.  Singletary, a three-year captain, also added eight assists.  Arizona was paced by Jerryd Bayless, who scored 21 points.

Read more at ESPN.com.

The Cavaliers improved to 2-0 last night with at 92-53 win over Howard.  Sean Singletary led the Wahoos with 23 points and 8 assists as Virginia overcame a sluggish start to pull away for a convincing win.  Virginia is back in action on Saturday for a its first road game of the year at #17 Arizona.

 More from ESPN.com

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=273180258 

A sports article by Ning Tay

If you visit the AFC at night, you will see at least three members of the Virginia Women’s Rugby team there, guaranteed. Now that the season is over, off-season training has begun to keep everyone in shape. Coaches Nancy Kechner and Julie Comer sent out workout suggestions last week and even organised an off-season competition with a point system for possible exercises. It’s no wonder that the UVA Women’s Rugby team is so successful.

This season, the team played a total of 14 games and won them all except one. They lost to Penn State by one try, with a score of 15-10. “We did excellent this season. We worked hard, we were fit, and we only had one loss, against a team that plays national championships,” says Rachel “Recky” Winters, fall season captain. In fact, no team had scored against UVA until their 10^th game.

The match they played with the largest point difference was against VCU, with a score of 110-0. The second largest was against Virginia Tech, with scores of 71-0 and 72-5. Even though their only loss was against Penn State, Winters feels that playing JMU was more mentally and emotionally challenging, “especially since we’re huge rivals.” Despite the pressure, UVA took them down with a score of 27-14. Later on in the season, there was definitely a rush of exhilaration when they won the state championships. All the sweat and blood that had been poured quite literally onto the field during practices that season had been worth it.

The UVA Women’s Rugby team has an impressive history. Not only have they been state champions for five consecutive years (and three more before that), they have made it to Division 1 Sweet Sixteens for the past nine years. The team has advanced to Elite Eights six times, and Final Fours twice. Their goal for the spring season is to once again get to the Final Fours. “It’s not that it’s important to win. When we play well together, everyone feels great about it, and then winning just happens,” says Emily “Peesta” Shiflett, spring season captain.

So why is our women’s rugby team so amazing? Coach Nancy Kechner believes that, “we have smart players and we try to empower them to make their own decisions. Many teams are too scripted. They’re told to drive left three times, and then drive right twice, and if you mess them up they get very lost.” Winters agrees, and believes that “students who join the team attend UVA, and so are dedicated at what they do, passionate about it, and always give their best.” Furthermore, both captains agree that the team’s victories are largely due to their coaches, Nancy Kechner and Julie Comer. “We have the best coaches, who are experienced in all the positions, and they really know what each player should do,” says Shiflett.

Team chemistry is definitely another reason why the women perform so well on the field. Many players agree that all of their closest friends have come from the team. “We just sweat together, bleed together, [my favourite thing about the team is] definitely the close bonds we form,” says Winters. When imagining state champions the night before their last game, most would picture coaches ushering their players into bed, reminding them to stay focused and to save their energy. However, the night before championships, members of the team were busy running through the hallways of their motel, playing pranks on each other and angering hotel management.
Winters believes that to reach their goal of getting to the Final Fours, the team will have to “keep up the intensity and spirit, work just as hard, and continue doing what they’ve done this season.” In the upcoming season, the team will play Mardi Gras, ACIs, VWIT, and Sweet Sixteens. With everybody visiting the gym regularly to accrue workout points, the team should be ready to run faster and hit harder in the spring season. With scrumcaps full of fortitude and mouth guards in place, UVA Women’s Rugby team should be able to ruck their way to the top.

A sports article by Jason Shore

Entering the final game in the historic Orange Bowl last Saturday against Miami, the #23 Cavaliers were not generally favored to win despite their ranking. Virginia had never won a football game in Florida in 15 previous attempts. Sitting atop the ACC Coastal division with Virginia Tech, they did not need to – the showdown in Charlottesville against the Hokies on November 24 will decide which team takes a shot at the ACC Championship.

Inexplicably, the Cavaliers responded with a 48-0 shutout of the Hurricanes, the worst shutout in 70 years of Orange Bowl history. Doubted after setting a NCAA record number of close wins, Virginia responded with a comfortable 48-point margin of victory. The Cavaliers’ other eight wins came by a total margin of 53.

Full story at virginiasports.com

By Grayson Lambert

For the fifth time this year, the Virginia football team pulled out a win by one or two points yesterday after a 17-16 victory over Wake Forest. With an 8-2 record, the Wahoos have moved back into both the AP and the USA Today Polls. Virginia also stayed a half game ahead of Virginia Tech in the ACC Coastal division.

Despite the impressive record and the lead in the ACC standings, anyone who has watched a UVA football game this year will readily admit that the Wahoos do not look terribly impressive. In yesterday’s game, Virginia was a poor 4 of 15 on 3rd downs, had the ball for ten fewer minutes than the Demon Deacons, struggled to establish a running game, and completed less than 50% of its passes. While Mikell Simpson had another good game, the UVA ground attack has suffered in the absence of Cedric Peermen. Virginia’s top three receivers are two tight ends and a running back.

UVA has also struggled on the road this season. The Wyoming loss is still inexplicable. Wyoming completely dominated the game and is now a 5-4 team in the Mountain West Conference. At UNC, Virginia looked better but was unable to finish drives, settling for five field goals. At Middle Tennessee, it took a late Chris Gould field goald to escape another weak team. The Maryland game was frustrating to watch until the last drive, when the Virginia offense stepped up late. Finally, the NC State game was another poor showing on the road, as NC State threw its way to its first ACC win of the season.

Although the wins have not always been pretty (anyone remember the Duke game?), wins are wins – and UVA has proven its knack for ending up on top when the game is over. The two losses were “bad” losses, but instead of folding after the season opening loss at Wyoming, the team has shown heart and character over the past two months. The Wahoos have stepped up in critical moments and is now in a position to make an improbable run at an ACC crown.

Still, the exciting run of the recent months will be disregarded if UVA cannot finish the season. Next week, the Cavs will be at Miami; the Hurricanes are far from the dominant team that they were earlier this decade, but there is still much talent on the team. Then, after an off week, UVA hosts the archrival Hokies on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In all likelihood, the game against VT will be for a birth in the ACC Championship game and a chance to go to the Orange Bowl. After trips to Charlotte, Boise, and Nashville in recent years, a big New Year’s Day bowl game would be a major step for UVA football.

But if these dreams of a major bowl game are to come true, UVA must focus on each game as it comes. The offense has to be more efficient and needs to score more touchdowns. The rest of Virginia’s opponents this season are better teams, and it will take strong performances to get wins. Back in August, who would have guessed that UVA would be on the verge of an ACC championship? Certainly not most of us, and this season has been much more successful than most initially were predicting. Now that we are so close, however, anything short of the playing for an ACC championship will be rather disappointing.

The Wahoos won another close game Saturday with a 17-16 victory over the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest. After a late Virginia touchdown, Wake Forest had a chance to win, but Sam Swank’s last-second field goal missed wide right.

See more from ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=273070258

The Virginia football team beat Maryland 18-17 Saturday night in College Park, MD, notching their seventh straight victory and the third straight victory won in the final minute of play. The Cavaliers were led by backup running back Mikell Simpson, who carried the ball 16 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns while starting in place of the injured Andrew Pearman. Simpson also had 13 receptions for 152 yards. The Cavaliers travel south to play N.C. State next weekend.

Read more on ESPN.

U.Va. Women’s Soccer Team defeated their Blacksburg rivals 2-0 at home yesterday.

More from VirginiaSports.com.

U.Va. improved its record to 6-1 and qualifies for an automatic bowl game bid Saturday, after defeating the University of Connecticut Huskies 17-16 at Scott Stadium.

More from AP.