Women’s lacrosse: No. 9 Virginia tops William & Mary, 16-5

The No. 9 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (4-0) picked up a 16-5 win over William and Mary (2-2) on Wednesday (Feb. 28) night at Klöckner Stadium.

Virginia opened the game with a 9-0 run, taking that lead into halftime. The Cavaliers held William & Mary scoreless until the 26:11 mark in the second half. The Tribe didn’t have shot until the17:16 mark in the first. UVA opened the second half with a 3-1 run to lead 12-1. The Cavaliers outscored the Tribe 7-5 in the second half.

“One of the biggest challenges of a mid-week game is focusing on doing the little things and starting the game strong and I thought we did that today,” head coach Julie Myers said. “We made some mistakes here and there, but our intensity was there from the opening whistle to the very end. I am proud of the girls and excited for the foundation we are building. We are ready to move on and get ready for Syracuse.”

Eight different players scored a goal for the Cavaliers. Senior Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) and juniors Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) and Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.) led UVA with three goals. Sophomore Megan Plain (Pittsford, N.Y.) and freshman Chloe Jones (Slingerlands, N.Y.) both scored their first career goals. Abby Corkum led William & Mary with two goals.

Junior Kaitlin Luzik (Alexandria, Va.) paced the defense with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Jackson added four ground balls and Jones had three.

Sophomore Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) started the scoring for the Cavaliers and had two of UVA’s first three goals. Behr had her hat trick during UVA’s 9-0 run, while Mueller, Jackson and Shoemaker each had two.

Jackson scored on the assist from Mueller to begin the second half and Shoemaker secured her third-straight hat trick with the assist from Behr as UVA took an 11-1 lead. William & Mary scored its first goal when Abby Corkum scored.

The teams traded goals when the Tribe had back-to-back goals to cut it to 13-4. Plain started a 3-0 UVA run with a free position goal, then sophomore Angie Loynaz (Cos Cobb, Conn.) scored and Jones converted a free position as UVA went on to take the 16-5 win.

Virginia led in shots (40-11), ground balls (26-8), while William & Mary had the edge in draw controls (12-11) and saves (11-4). UVA forced 19 turnovers while only committing nine.

The Cavaliers remain at home to host No. 5 Syracuse on Sunday, March 4 at Noon at Klöckner Stadium.