As a member of the ACC, Virginia wasn’t allowed to compete as a team during the fall season. But after a 10-and-a-half-month hiatus, the Cavaliers returned in a big way, going head-to-head with Wake Forest, another ACC power, down the stretch at the UCF Challenge on Feb. 2 and coming up with a one-shot victory.
Virginia was 11 shots out of it with 18 holes to play, and narrowly held off a Wake Forest team that many have pegged as a preseason favorite. A year ago at its own IJGA Collegiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, Virginia made up nine shots in nine holes to win. This time, head coach Ria Scott had her team draw on that experience and also cold qualifying days back home in Charlottesville, Virginia. The result? The Cavaliers put their heads down and endured cold, windy conditions to come up with a win.
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“We woke up and we were like, it’s just like a qualifying day in Charlottesville,” Scott said. “We’ve had to qualify in pretty similar conditions and low temps over the last couple of weeks. We just kept feeding it to them that there’s no one more prepared for this than you. You’ve seen it, you’ve played in it.”
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