Since 1996, the Virginia Department of Athletics and the Maxine Platzer Lynn Women’s Center have collaborated in a celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, an event that brings national attention to the achievements of female athletes and to issues facing girls and women in sport. 

This year, the event’s theme will be “Half a Century of Opportunity. Half a Century of Excellence.” Letterwinners from the first three varsity women’s teams at the University of Virginia will be honored at halftime of next Sunday’s Duke game.

On September 29, 1973, the field hockey team took the pitch on Nameless Field against Roanoke College. As the Cavaliers represented the University of Virginia that September afternoon, they represented more than just a field hockey team. They represented the first intercollegiate team contest by UVA female students and ushered in a new era at Virginia.

In 1971, UVA’s AD Gene Corrigan appointed Barbara Kelly as the assistant director of intramurals and physical education, making her Virginia’s first full-time female athletic staff member. After developing a successful intramural and club sports program for women, Kelly was named director of women’s sports and primary senior woman administrator. She worked to bring about…