The Saint Joseph's field hockey team heads to Virginia to kick off the Atlantic 10 portion of its 2021 slate this weekend as the Hawks visit defending champion VCU on Friday before taking on Richmond on Sunday.

#8 Saint Joseph's at VCU
Friday, September 24 • 3:00 p.m. • Cary Street Field, Richmond, Va.
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#8 Saint Joseph's at Richmond
Sunday, September 26 • Noon • Crenshaw Field, Richmond, Va.
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LAST TIME OUT: Saint Joseph's (6-2 overall, 0-0 Atlantic 10) ran its winning streak to four with a pair of shutout victories against local opposition...Last Friday, Manu Ghigliotti scored twice as the Hawks shut out Penn, 4-0...SJU then blanked Temple, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon as Sol Borensztein tallied in the third quarter and Ghigliotti netted her third of the weekend in the fourth.

VCU (4-2 overall, 1-0 Atlantic 1-0) opened its conference schedule with a 3-0 win at Lock Haven on Friday; Janne Wetzel scored twice and assisted on another...The Rams then routed Bellarmine, 6-1, as Bridget McCormick scored twice and Lynea Gregory added a goal and two assists...Richmond (1-6 overall, 1-0 Atlantic 10) got two goals and two assists from Steffie Bongers en route to a 4-0 win at Saint Louis in the teams' Atlantic 10 opener on Friday before falling 1-0 at Indiana on Sunday.

LEADERS: Freke van Tilburg leads the Hawks with eight goals and 18 points on the season, while Ghigliotti's seven and 15, respectively, rank second...Katy Benton is the team's leader in assists with six, while Zoe Wohlleben sits second with three...Borensztein, Anna Miller, and Nika Hansen have each tallied two goals apiece...Robin Bleekemolen has started all eight games for the Hawks and has posted a 1.47 goals against average to go with a .700 save percentage.

Lonica McKinney leads VCU with five goals and is tied with Wetzel for the team lead with 10 points...Maite and Svea Sturm lead the Rams with five assists, while Gregory has added three...Sasha Elliott has started all seven games in the cage and comes into Friday's tilt with a 1.41 GAA and a save percentage of .829...Bongers leads Richmond with three goals, and eight points, while Tess Keppel leads the team with three assists...Erika Latta has played every minute in the cage for the Spiders, posting a 2.14 GAA with a .722 save percentage.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Hawks lead the all-time series with VCU, 11-5, and had won seven in a row over the Rams until VCU claimed the most recent Atlantic 10 title in April on their home turf; incidentally, SJU claimed the 2018 A-10 title, 1-0, in the last contest between the two teams on Hawk Hill...Richmond holds a 21-11 edge in the all-time series, but the Hawks have won six of the last seven, with the last matchup between the teams coming in SJU's 1-0 Atlantic 10 title game triumph at Crenshaw Field in 2019.

NOTEWORTHY: Saint Joseph's rose one spot to eighth in this week's NFHCA Coaches Poll and came in at fourth in the first NCAA RPI update...Bleekemolen earned Defensive Player of the Week honors from the Atlantic 10 after posting a pair of shutouts...She made two fourth-quarter saves against Penn, including stopping a penalty stroke attempt...On Sunday, Bleekemolen made four total saves, including three within seconds of one another, to keep the Owls at bay...Ghigliotti pulled in Rookie of the Week honors for the second consecutive week after her three-goal performance...VCU's Wetzel was the Offensive Player of the Week...Van Tilburg leads the league in goals and points, while Ghigliotti is tied for second in both categories...Benton is tied with the Sturms for the league lead in assists...Both van Tilburg and Ghigliotti are tied for sixth in the nation in goals per game (1.00), which the Hawks have the 10th-most prolific offense in the country, scoring 3.3 goals per game.