CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Miami made history Friday, as the RedHawks outlasted No.4 Virginia in a 2-1 victory to advance to the first Elite Eight in Red and White field hockey history.  Freshmen Malena Sabez and Justina Intzes continued on their tear of scoring, each scoring once on a penalty corner, and goalkeeper Nicky Sjouken and the Miami defense held the Cavaliers to just six shots on goal and three corners to earn the win. The RedHawks improve to 16-4 with the victory and earn another game while Virginia falls to 16-3 with the loss.  
A deflected shot resulted in an early penalty corner for Virginia. The Cavaliers fired a shot into the back of the cage to pull ahead 1-0 less than three minutes in.

Miami gained control of possession and Riley Mazzalupi generated Miami's first corner of the game.

Set up by Intzes, Sabez fired a goal between keeper Nilou Lempers's legs to level the score at 1-1 at the end of the first period.

Nicky Sjouken put up three back-to-back saves on two UVA penalty corners to open the second period. Despite three total penalty corners generated by UVA in the second period and zero by Miami, the game stayed 1-1 headed into halftime.

The first shot of the third period resulted in a grabbing save by Sjouken. Paula Navarro had a takeaway inside the arc to save another potential score for the Cavaliers.

Sloane Wearren generated Miami's second penalty corner of the day, but the Virginia defense shooed the ball away.

Lucia Ventos created a UVA foul to generate another corner for Miami near the end of the third period. Becca Lawn inserted and Berta Mata earned her 21st assist of the season as she set up Intzes, who fired a shot airborne past Lempers to take a 2-1 lead. This marked the second time in program history that Miami has led in a first-round game (2021 against Michigan).

Virginia and Miami each put up two shots in the first 10 minutes of the fourth.

The Cavaliers pulled their goalie with five minutes to play. The RedHawks made their way downfield where Ventos generated a corner with the net empty, but the RedHawks did not score.

With 60 seconds to play, Virginia made a final offensive push. A yellow card was issued to Miami just outside the arc with 20 seconds to play. Virginia sent the ball into the arc and Ventos took the ball away, dribbling downfield to run the clock out and add to a historic season by securing Miami's first-ever first-round victory in the NCAA Tournament.

Miami will play the winner of today's 2:30 p.m. matchup between Northwestern and Yale on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Charlottesville. The winner of Sunday's match will advance to the NCAA semifinals