Women’s lacrosse: UVA cruises to win at William & Mary, 17-9

UVA (2-2) used a 10-0 run to open the second half to cruise past the William & Mary Tribe (1-4) on Thursday night, 17-9, at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field.

“There was a huge difference from the first half to the second half,” said Virginia women’s lacrosse head coach Julie Myers. “We were strong in the first two minutes of the game scoring twice, but then went kind of went flat after that. We challenged the ladies to clean up the turnovers and win the draw control and to really make their shots count. We wanted to win the first five minutes of the second half and after that win the next five minutes.

“I wanted the ladies to keep thinking that we were going to win this draw in front of us and hit our shots. We knew we were generating them and had lots of good looks. We just needed to be really disciplined taking the shot we wanted and making sure it went in.”

Virginia took an early 2-0 lead on the heels of goals by Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) and Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.). Jackson also assisted Mueller’s goal, the first of the game.

William & Mary first found nylon at 21:18 when Eloise Gagnon scored on an assist by Lindsey Jenks. Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.) scored unassisted at 18:39 in the first half, extending UVA’s lead to 3-1.

The Cavaliers and Tribe traded goals back and forth for most of the half. After Jackson’s second goal of the game with 4:46left gave UVA a 5-3 lead, William & Mary closed the first stanza with back-to-back goals from Shannon Quinn to send the contest into the intermission tied, 5-5.

Virginia won 10-of-11 draw controls in the first half, losing one on a foul, but the difference was 15 UVA turnovers.

The second half started out much differently for the Cavaliers, who stormed out to a 15-5 lead, courtesy of a dominate 10-0 run. UVA scored early and often in the second half, tallying six goals in the first 4:49 of the final frame. William & Mary finally broke through with 7:50 left in the game after the UVA defense held the Tribe scoreless for 24:21, dating back to the first half.

Once William & Mary broke through the Tribe finished the game on a 4-2 run as UVA commenced multiple substitutions.

Jackson led UVA with six points on three goals and three assists. Kasey Beher (Northport, N.Y.) added three goals, while Lilly DiNardo (Salisbury, Md.), Mueller, Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) and Posey Valis (Baltimore, Md.) all added two goals each.

UVA won the battle of shots (37-17), which included a 21-9 disparity in the second half. UVA also won the battle of ground balls (32-22) and draw controls (17-10). William & Mary had more saves (11-3) and turnovers (26-22).

Virginia is back in action on Sunday when the Cavaliers open up ACC play at Syracuse. First draw is set for 4 p.m. and the contest will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.