Women’s lacrosse: UVA defeats Louisville in OT

The third-seeded UVA women’s lacrosse team (11-7) scored three-straight goals, including one in overtime, to take the 13-12 victory over six-seed Louisville (11-7) on Thursday night in the 2017 ACC Championship Quarterfinals at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Va. Virginia advances to the semifinals to face second-seed Syracuse on Friday at 8 p.m.

The game saw six ties and six lead changes, while neither team led by more than two goals. Virginia was down 7-5 with nine minutes left in the first half when senior Posey Valis (Baltimore, Md.) scored two goals to tie the game 7-7 at halftime. Virginia took its largest lead of the game, 10-8, but a 4-0 run gave Louisville a 12-10 advantage with 9:40 to play. UVA scored with 8:28remaining on a goal by junior Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.), then senior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) tied the game at 12-12 with 1:16 to play in regulation. Just 47 seconds into the overtime period, Behr fired a shot just inside the eight-meter to win the game.

The win marked head coach Julie Myers’ 300th career victory. Myers is just the fourth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 300 career wins, with all of those coming at Virginia.

“I am so excited that the girls rallied to win an overtime game against a great opponent in Louisville,” Myers said. “That was a really well played game for both teams. It is also good to win that game and get to play again tomorrow. I couldn’t be happier.”

Valis led UVA with four goals and Behr finished with three, including the game-winner. Senior Besser Dyson (Alexandria, Va.), Reese and freshman Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) each had two goals.

Louisville scored the first two goals of the game, but Virginia used a 3-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 3-2 lead. The Cardinals then scored three-straight to retake the lead, 5-3, with 20:28 left in the first half. UVA cut it to 5-4 when Reese scored on the assist from sophomore Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.). Louisville hit right back with a goal at 18:21 to lead 6-4.

The Cavaliers cut it back to one, 6-5, when Dyson found Mueller running down the middle for her second goal of the night. Louisville responded once again to go ahead 7-5 with 9:00 on the clock. Valis scored back-to-back goals in the final two minutes to send it into halftime tied 7-7.

After Louisville scored 11 seconds into the second half, Dyson went back-to-back to put Virginia in front 9-8. Valis then added another goal to give UVA a 10-8 lead with 24:03 remaining. The Cardinals used a 4-0 run over the next 12 minutes to take a 12-10 lead with 9:40 to play.

Behr fired a shot into the goal to cut it to one, 12-11, with 8:28 remaining. Mueller picked up a Louisville turnover near the Cardinals’ end of the field, then found Valis who connected with Reese for a goal to tie the game at 12-12 with 1:16 to play. Louisville had a free position with 24 seconds left, but turned the ball over to send the game to overtime.

Senior Wyatt Whitley (Alexandria, Va.) won the opening draw in the overtime period. With possession to UVA, Behr stepped up and fired a shot from just inside the arc to score the game-winning goal.

UVA led Louisville in shots (38-30) and ground balls (14-11). The Cardinals had the edge in draw controls (15-12) and saves (15-10). Meghan Siverson led Louisville with three goals.

Virginia will play Syracuse at 8 p.m. in the semifinals. The game will be televised on ACC Regional Sports Networks as well as streamed on ACC Network Extra through ESPN3 or the WatchESPN app. The Cavaliers fell to the Orange 16-15 in the regular season meeting between the two schools.