The 8th Annual Smithfield Commonwealth Clash (a year-long tournament featuring 24 matches in 22 sports between Virginia and Virginia Tech) was decided at last weekend’s Women’s Golf ACC Championship, and the Cavaliers was 17 at bats shy of the Hokies’ weekend finish of 873. Points are awarded if each school outperforms its rivals. Depending on the sport, he will compete twice during the season, so each of those matches will be worth 0.5 points. The team that first scores 11 points will be the winner. This final victory against Virginia Tech marked the final point needed to end the contest and secure the victory for Virginia Tech.
Virginia women’s soccer started off with a bang on October 15th. 3-0 shutout of the Hokies. The Cavaliers took an early lead with a goal from senior defender Chloe Japik in the 10th minute and they never looked back, picking up the first points of the Commonwealth Clash.
Just five days later, the Cavaliers’ lead in men’s soccer increased to 2-0. 3-0 win against Hokies in blacksburg. Freshman forward Steven Anor-Gyamfi found the net twice to seal the victory for Virginia.
The Cavaliers continued to rack up points at the ACC Cross Country Championships on Oct. 27, with the men’s and women’s teams finishing third over the Hokies’ 11th and 10th, respectively, further leading Virginia in the Commonwealth Clash standings. It took 4th place. -0.
The dominance continued when the Cavaliers volleyball team faced Virginia Tech twice in the fall, winning both matchups and giving Virginia the extra points. The first match was on October 29th and went down in history as the first match in volleyball history. held It has been held at John Paul Jones Arena since the facility was built in 2006. The game also drew a record crowd of 3,162 fans. Virginia dropped the first two sets, but rallied to win the final three sets, sending the many fans in attendance home satisfied. A month later, the Cavaliers defeated Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. with 3 set sweeps.
Football became the only fall sport where Virginia didn’t dominate Virginia Tech – Thanksgiving weekend’s Commonwealth Cup game left Cavalier fans alone It was disappointing They watched as Hokie supporters packed into Scott Stadium after the blowout 55-17 win. Virginia gained only 27 yards in the first quarter without getting a single first down, and that lack of energy continued throughout the rest of the humiliating loss. Virginia Tech’s only Commonwealth Clash win of the fall gave Virginia a 5-1 advantage in the standings.
The first of two games between the men’s basketball rivals was played on January 17th.of Cavaliers win at home 65-57 Senior guard Reece Beekman and graduate forward Jordan Miner each scored 16 points to lead the Cavaliers by another half point. But when the teams met again in Blacksburg a month later, The Hokies embarrassed Virginia. A 75-41 drubbing gave Virginia Tech a half-point lead.
Women’s basketball was also split in points, but Virginia’s victory meant more than just advancing in the Commonwealth Clash.unranked cavaliers Defeated 5th place Virginia Tech 80-75. In the final regular season game on March 3, they pulled off one of the biggest upsets in program history. The game was attended by 11,975 fans from both schools, with an even record-breaking crowd at JPJ, making it the largest women’s basketball crowd in Virginia history.
Perhaps the most notable Cavalier win this year was the Virginia women’s swimming and diving win.
5 consecutive ACC championship wins On February 24th, the team not only took home the trophy, but also broke the ACC’s all-time scoring record during that time. The Cavalier women’s team scored her 1,637.5 points in this tournament, breaking her record of 1,615 points held by the NC State men’s team. The University of Virginia swept the ACC relays, outscoring the Hokies by more than 1,000 total points, with junior Gretchen Walsh breaking four NCAA records in the process.
Cavalier men’s swimming and diving lost to Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship, finishing fifth overall to the Hokies’ third place. This means the teams’ performances at the ACC Championships in swimming and diving are evenly split.
The Hokies had more success in rivalry contests over the winter, picking up three more points with wins over Virginia in wrestling and men’s and women’s indoor track. These results reduced the lead in the Commonwealth Clash to just one point, with the Cavaliers leading 7-6 at the end of winter sports.
In mid-March, Virginia’s No. 5 women’s tennis team traveled to Blacksburg. came out on top Virginia took home one point with a 6-1 victory. Meanwhile, just three weeks after her, the men’s tennis No. 2 also won his 6-1, giving the team victory. 62nd victory They beat Virginia Tech in just 70 tries. Virginia put up another great performance against their rivals, moving them to 9-6 in the Commonwealth Clash standings.
Virginia Tech fought back and was able to close the gap by half a point with a 6-0 lead. softball victoryApril 16th was a tough home loss for the Cavaliers. The score was 9-6.5, and Virginia couldn’t get the Hokies any closer.
That cause was helped at the April 17 women’s lacrosse tournament. summarized it They won 14-12 in the second half of the game in Blacksburg. The Cavaliers got off to a bad start and were trailing late in the first quarter, but graduate attacker Katie Carnevale’s five-point heroics helped Virginia turn things around and put them just one win away from winning the Commonwealth championship. It became necessary. collision.
The Virginia men’s and women’s golf teams took to the tee last weekend for the ACC Championship, and both teams put any final doubts to rest with wins over Virginia Tech. Junior Amanda Sambach became the first Cavalier player in program history to finish in the top three at three different ACC Championships. Sambach finished the weekend with a 3-under 69, giving her a team score of 209. Virginia took third place with an 8-under 856. They are well ahead of the 8th place Hokies in the ACC. The win was the last one the Cavaliers needed to clinch the Commonwealth Clash title, now at 11 points.
The next day, the men’s golf team ended the weekend with a 35-stroke lead under Virginia Tech, taking the Commonwealth Clash standings to 12 wins and 6.5 losses. On Tuesday, the Hokies won 6-1 in softball and earned another half point, but Virginia still leads by five points. The final score won’t be fully determined until the two schools meet in baseball May 16-18 and in the ACC Outdoor Championships in the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field May 9-11.
The Cavaliers’ fifth win in the last eight Commonwealth Clash tournaments highlights the success of the athletic sector as a whole in recent years, as athletes from a myriad of sports continue to dominate. Not all Virginia programs have found success in the conference or nationally, but Cavalier fans should view the Hokies’ loss (something Virginia is becoming increasingly good at) as a well-deserved consolation prize. As the 2023-24 athletic campaign approaches the postseason, Virginia will look to bring home even more hardware before returning in the fall and heading for its third straight Commonwealth Clash title.
