The UVA women’s lacrosse team (12-7, 4-3 ACC), the No. 7 seed in the 2015 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship, had its 2015 season come to an end with a 13-11 loss to Penn State (16-4, 4-1 Big Ten) in the tournament’s second-round on Sunday (May 10) at Klöckner Stadium.
After trailing 8-5 at halftime, Virginia tied the game, 9-9, when junior Kelly Boyd (Baltimore, Md.) picked up a ground ball in front of the net and smashed in a shot with 12:34 remaining, but Penn State answered a minute later with a free position goal to retake the lead. The Nittany Lions scored again with four minutes remaining to build up an 11-9 lead, adding a third-straight goal with 1:36 left to go up 12-9.
Redshirt senior Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) scored on a free position shot 11 seconds later, but Penn State again answered with a goal to make it a 13-10 game. Penn State won the ensuing draw control but Virginia got the ball back after senior Courtney Swan (Vero Beach, Fla.) forced a turnover, setting up senior Casey Bocklet’s (South Salem, N.Y.) 44th goal of the season with 30 seconds remaining.
Swan battled and won the ensuing draw control with Boyd taking a shot with four seconds left, but Penn State’s Emi Smith made the save, with Penn State holding on for the victory.
“A lot of credit goes to Penn State and a lot of pride goes to my team,” said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. “Both times we played Penn State, today and back in February, they were games of runs. They would score several and then we would answer back. Penn State did a nice job of getting a lead, and then we tied it, but they always made sure they answered back, so they never let us control the game. Our shooters were struggling today because Penn State did a great job on defense. I think we have a great team, but we didn’t play our best today against a team that did just enough to beat us.”
Blue and Boyd each finished with three goals. Bocklet closed out her collegiate career by scoring two goals with a pair of assists.
Penn State’s Madison Cyr and Katie O’Donnell both scored three goals with two assists.
Penn State will play at No. 2 North Carolina in next weekend’s quarterfinals after the Tar Heels earned an 11-6 victory over Florida.
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Chris Graham
