UVa. women’s lax advances in ACC Tourney

Senior Julie Gardner (Severna Park, Md.) set a career-high with six goals, junior Kim Kolarik (Riva, Md.) tied a career-high with 11 saves and the fourth-seeded and 11th-ranked Virginia women’s lacrosse team defeated fifth-seeded and 17th-ranked Boston College, 13-8, Friday (April 20) in the quarterfinals of the 2012 ACC Tournament.

Virginia improved to 11-5 overall this season, while Boston College’s record dropped to 8-8.

“It was a great game, we’ve been working all week to make sure we were ready to put pressure on BC and we wanted to be able to run faster and transition from fast break to fast break,” Virginia head coach Julie Myers said. “We knew that we were going to need to make some big stops defensively. Everyone across the board showed up with one of their best games of the season and we just controlled the game from start to finish.”

Virginia will face No. 1 seed and No. 3 ranked North Carolina on Saturday (April 21) at 1 p.m. in the semifinals. The game will be televised by the ACC’s Regional Sports Networks and that broadcast will be available online through ESPN3.

Gardner’s six goals included the 100th of her career, and she joined classmate Josie Owen (Gibson Island, Md.) in reaching the milestone this season. Gardner also had an assist vs. the Eagles for a career-high seven points.

Kolarik had an outstanding day in goal for UVa, tying a career-high with 11 saves and tallying four ground balls.

Katie Slater (Kensington, Md.) added four goals and anassist for UVa, while Owen contributed two goals and one assist. Sloan Warren (Philadelphia, Pa.) chipped in a goal and Morgan Stephens (Olney, Md.) dished out an assist.

Virginia jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game and led 8-3 at halftime.

Boston College rallied to cut the deficit to three goals, as Brittany Wilton’s free position goal with 23:32 remaining in the game made the score 9-6 in favor of Virginia.

The Cavalier seniors responded, however, as Gardner scored her fifth goal of the game and the 100th of her career at the 21:43 mark and Owen followed up with her second goal of the game at the 17:51 mark to put Virginia up 11-6.

Boston College did not get closer down the stretch and the Cavaliers hung on for the 13-8 victory.

Boston College held a slight 28-26 advantage in shots and a 13-10 advantage in draw controls. Virginia won the ground ball battle, 13-9.

Virginia improved to 18-10 in all-time ACC Tournament games and advances to the semifinals for the 15th time in school history.