The No. 4 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (1-1) fell to No. 12 Princeton (1-0), 14-7, on Saturday at Sherrerd Field at Class of 52 Stadium in Princeton, N.J.
“It was a disappointing performance on our end,” head coach Julie Myers said. “I give Princeton a lot of credit for keeping it simple and playing it clean. They did a nice job of playing the ball and that forced us to be on our back heel. We were always a step behind so we ended up having to play defense too often as Princeton did a nice job of getting to the ball first and capitalizing on their opportunities.”
UVA outshot Princeton, 27-22, but goalkeeper Ellie DeGarmo finished with 13 saves in the net for the Tigers. The Cavaliers also had the edge in ground balls (10-8) and draw controls (13-9). The teams were even with 12 turnovers each.
Four players scored for Virginia. Junior Posey Valis (Baltimore, Md.), junior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) and junior Besser Dyson (Alexandria, Va.) each scored two and sophomore Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.). Olivia Hompe scored a hat trick and added two assists to lead Princeton.
Senior Mary Alati (Glen Ridge, N.J.) picked up three ground balls and sophomore Meghan Heick (Centreville, Va.) had four draw controls for the Cavaliers.
The first half was back-and-fourth as neither team led by more than two. Princeton was on the board first until a goal by Valis tied it up for the Cavaliers. UVA had its first lead of the game when Behr scored at the23:10 mark. The Tigers tied it up at 2-2 until Dyson’s first goal of the game gave the lead back to Virginia. It was tied once again as Princeton scored a goal with 16:23 to go in the first.
Dyson used a spin move to elude her defender and flip the ball in for her second goal of the game to put the Cavaliers up 4-3 with 9:55 on the clock. Back-to-back goals for Princeton put the Tigers ahead 5-4, but Kelly Reese evened the score once again with a goal at the 3:11 mark.
Princeton scored to go up 6-5 with 9.9 seconds on the clock. The Tigers then grabbed the draw and quickly ran down the field for a score as time expired to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.
Out of the break, Virginia picked up the draw to take the first possession. The Cavaliers held possession for close the three minutes until a foul gave Reese a free position. She converted to close the gap to 7-6 with 27:12 to play.
Virginia was down one player after a yellow card when Princeton scored on a free position to lead 8-6. The Tigers tacked on another score with a goal at the 18:32 mark to take a 9-6 lead.
UVA picked up the draw and quickly turned toward the goal. A foul gave Valis a free position goal to close the lead to 9-7 with 18:14 on the clock. Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) had a big save at the 15:53 mark as the Cavaliers held Princeton scoreless for close to eight minutes.
However, the Tigers would score three goals in less than a minute to push the lead out to 12-7 with 9:07remaining in the game. The Cavaliers were unable to connect on the net for the remainder of the game and Princeton added two more goals to take the win 14-7.
“We will bounce back from this,” Myers added. “It is still early and we look forward to playing again.”
Virginia will host Richmond in its home opener on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. The Cavaliers will remain at home to host Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 12 p.m.
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.
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Chris Graham
