No. 7 UVA (1-1) used a second half surge and rolled past the Richmond Spiders (0-2) Wednesday afternoon, 14-6, inside Robins Stadium.
“I think we did a nice job of staying in the moment and besides not shooting well, we limited our mistakes,” said Virginia women’s lacrosse head coach Julie Myers. “I thought it was a pretty clean game overall, and I knew it was a matter of sticking with it and enough shots would eventually fall. I thought we took some steam out of Richmond’s game as we stated the second half stronger and then we began to pull away.”
Richmond pounced early and took a 1-0 lead on a Charlett Stevenson goal at 26:55. UVa reciprocated with three straight scores, storming out to a 3-1 advantage.
Mary Alati (Glen Ridge, N.J.) started the scoring for UVa within 15 seconds of Richmond’s first goal. Casey Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.) assisted the score. Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) continued the scoring and Kelly Boyd (Baltimore, Md.) capped the run with a free-position goal at 21:53.
The Spiders netted a goal at 11:31 by Bailey Zerr, cutting the Richmond deficit to two goals, 3-2. The next 11 minutes were quiet until Blue scored her second goal of the game with 19 seconds left, followed by Bocklet’s first goal on the ensuing draw control with nine seconds left, giving UVa the 5-2 lead at the intermission.
After UVa won all eight draw controls of the first half, Richmond opened the second half winning its first draw control of the game and quickly cashed it in for a goal 23 seconds into the second half. Emily Castle’s score for Richmond cut UVa’s lead to two goals, 5-3.
UVa won the ensuring draw control and Blue scored on a Bocklet helper 31 seconds into the second half, increasing the UVa lead to 6-3.
With the game at 7-5 in UVa’s advantage, Alati scored unassisted with 20:30 remaining in the game to start a 6-0 lead, officially separating UVa from Richmond. Caroline Seats (Baltimore, Md.) capped the run on a free position shot with 7:02 left, giving UVa a 13-5 lead.
Stevenson managed the final Richmond goal on a free position opportunity and Alati capped the game’s scoring with a free position goal for UVa with 2:46 left.
Alati and Blue led UVa with three goals apiece. Blue added two assists to lead UVa with five points. Bocklet added two goals and two assists in the win.
UVa won the battle of shots (36-18), ground balls (9-8) and draw controls (14-8).
Virginia returns to action on Mon., Feb. 23 at No. 3 Syracuse. Both teams open ACC play at the Carrier Dome. First draw is slated for 6 p.m.
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Chris Graham
