Freshman Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) scored six goals and two in the final minute to propel the UVA women’s lacrosse team (1-1) to a 15-14 win over Richmond (1-1) on Wednesday night at Robins Stadium.
Virginia scored the opening goal, but did not lead again until the final 12 seconds of the game in the win. The Cavaliers trailed 13-11, with just under ten minutes when Mueller scored back-to-back goals to tie it at 13-13. Richmond scored with 5:29 to play to regain the lead, but Mueller scored two-straight goals, both from sophomore Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.), in the final minute to give UVA the victory.
“I was impressed by how hard Richmond played and how well they were able to get to the goal,” head coach Julie Myers said. “To have the lead in the first couple of minutes and the last seconds was very timely on our part. We got better in the process of learning how to battle and compete, but there is a lot we still need to work on to get the season we want to have. I am happy to get out of Richmond right now. It is important to be able to pick up the win when you are not playing your best.”
The Cavaliers out-shot Richmond, 43-21, and had a 20-15 advantage in ground balls. UVA also forced 23 turnovers by the Spiders, 13 of those in the second half, and only committed 11. Richmond had the edge in draw controls (16-15) and saves (16-4).
Also scoring for Virginia, senior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) recorded a hat trick and added an assist on the night. Shoemaker finished with two goals and three assists, sophomore Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) had two goals and two assists, junior Lilly DiNardo scored two goals and senior Besser Dyson (Alexandria, Va.) had a game-high four assists. Natalia Chaney led Richmond with four goals.
Virginia was on the board first with a goal by DiNardo on an assist from Dyson. Richmond came back to score two-straight to give the Spiders a 2-1 lead with 23:00 to play in the first half. The Cavaliers tied the game when Shoemaker scored her first goal of the season on a pass from Reese after a free position attempt.
Richmond came down and scored two goals to lead 4-2. Shoemaker cut the lead down to one and DiNardo followed with a goal to tie the game at 4-4 with 13:18 on the clock as Richmond called timeout. The Spiders then used a 3-0 run to take a 7-4 lead with 7:27 left until halftime.
UVA cut the lead to two when Dyson found Reese for a goal at the 4:23 mark. Reese found the net again, this time on a free position, as the Cavaliers were within one, 7-6 with 3:51 left in the first. Richmond added a goal to go back up by two, but Mueller ran right down the middle to score and send UVA into the half down 8-7.
After Richmond scored first out of the break, UVA hit back with a goal by Jackson followed by another goal for Mueller off the draw to tie the game at 9-9. Richmond then scored two-straight goals to lead 11-9, but 30 seconds later Reese tallied a hat trick to cut it to one. Jackson added her second goal that tied the game at 11-11. Richmond scored two more goals to lead 13-11 with 9:56 on the clock.
A yellow card gave the Cavaliers a man-up opportunity when Mueller scored her first career hat trick to cut it to one, and then tacked on another goal one minute later to tie the game at 13-13. Richmond took the lead once again with a free position goal to lead 14-13 with 5:29 to play.
A caused turnover by Jackson that was picked up by sophomore Kaitlin Luzik (Alexandria, Va.) gave UVA the ball back with just under two minutes as the Cavaliers called timeout. UVA had another man-up opportunity after a Richmond yellow card that led to Mueller scoring on an assist from Shoemaker to tie the game at 14-14.
Mueller picked up the ensuing draw control to give UVA possession with 50 seconds to play. As the clock wound down, Shoemaker found Mueller again who zoomed the ball into the goal for the game-winner.
Virginia will have a quick turnaround as it returns home to host No. 12 Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.
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