First-half run powers UVA women’s lacrosse past Princeton, 18-11

The No. 8 UVA women’s lacrosse team (4-4, 0-2 ACC) snapped a two-game losing slide with an 18-11 victory over No. 10 Princeton (4-1, 1-0 Ivy) on Saturday (March 14) at Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.

Four Cavalier players scored hat tricks. Freshman Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) and redshirt senior Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) each contributed five points, scoring four goals with an assist apiece. Sophomore Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) scored three goals. Senior Courtney Swan (Vero Beach, Fla.) scored three goals while also winning 10 draw controls.

“It is a great feeling right now, having come out and consistently played well all over the field throughout today’s game,” said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. “I thought our girls did a great job making a statement on draw controls, really controlling the transition game and making their shots count. We started a little slow and weren’t initially hitting our shots, but we stayed with it. It was nice to feel the flood gates open a little bit against a really talented Princeton team.”

Princeton led 2-0 with 18 minutes left in the first half, but Virginia rattled off six unanswered goals, including three from Behr, to fuel an 8-1 run to close out the period. Reese smashed in a shot 1:30 into the second half to give Virginia a six-goal advantage, 9-3.

After Virginia had built the lead to seven, Princeton scored a pair of goals in a 20-second span to make it a 13-8 game with 10 minutes remaining, but Blue and junior Mary Alati (Glen Ridge, N.J.) countered with back-to-back goals in a span of 24 seconds for to put Virginia back up by seven.

Princeton scored three-straight goals to make it a five-point game, 16-11, with 3:21 remaining, but Swan and senior Daniela Eppler (Baltimore, Md.) scored a pair of goals 11 seconds apart to give Virginia an 18-11 edge. The Cavaliers won the ensuing draw control and had possession with 2:38 remaining. Princeton forced a turnover with 27 seconds left on the clock, but couldn’t get a shot off, turning the ball over with 12 seconds left in the game.

Virginia held a 19-12 edge in draw controls and outshot the Tigers 36-28.

Princeton’s Ellie DeGarmo logged 11 saves. Virginia freshman Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) stopped four shots.

Virginia travels to No. 15 James Madison (7-0) for a mid-week game on Wednesday, March 18 at 7 p.m.The Cavaliers will be back at home on Saturday, March 21, to host No. 4 Duke (9-0, 3-0 ACC) at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium

Single-game reserved seats are available for all women’s home games for $7. Single-game general admission adult tickets for women’s home games are $5, while youth (18 and under), seniors (60 and over), and UVa faculty and staff tickets are $4 each.