Women’s lacrosse: Virginia comeback falls short at Loyola

The No. 8 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (4-3, 0-1 ACC) fell to Loyola 7-6 on Wednesday night at the Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore.

Virginia scored three-straight goals in just over three minutes to cut Loyola’s lead to one, but could not overcome the 7-3 deficit as the Greyhounds held on for the win. The Cavaliers trailed by four three times in the game.

“I give Loyola credit for coming out really strong and generating good looks at the goal,” head coach Julie Myers said. “I’m disappointed in our execution and how many times we turned the ball over. I felt like we had the opportunities, we just put so much pressure on ourselves. If Loyola wasn’t forcing a turnover we forced it on our own and made everything a lot harder that way.”

Loyola jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first half, leading Virginia with four of the first five draw controls to start the game. UVA got on the board with a free position goal by sophomore Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) with 4:13remaining in the first half.

The Greyhounds outshot the Cavaliers, 17-6, in the first half and caused six of UVA’s eight turnovers in the opening period.

In the second half, Loyola extended its lead back to four with Maddy Blakeman’s third goal of the game at the 27:15 mark. The Cavaliers cut the lead to 5-2 with a goal by sophomore Daniela Kelly (Rumson, N.J.) with 16:22 remaining.

Junior Posey Valis (Baltimore, Md.) scored to pull the Cavaliers within two, but Loyola responded with two-straight goals to go up 7-3 with 7:59 to play. Kelly netted her second goal of the game, then a win on the draw led to a goal by junior Besser Dyson (Alexandria, Va.) as UVA was back within two, 7-5, with 6:16 left.

A defensive stop gave UVA the ball back and sophomore Lilly DiNardo (Salisbury, Md.) scored a goal after being fouled to cut the lead to one, 7-6, with 3:33 on the clock. However, Loyola gained possession in the final minutes to hold off Virginia’s comeback and close out the 7-6 win.

Sophomore Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) finished with eight saves in the net for the Cavaliers. Molly Wolf recorded seven saves for Loyola.

Loyola had the edge over Virginia in shots (27-16) and ground balls (26-15). The Cavaliers led with 10 draw controls to five, picking up eight in the second half. UVA also converted two of four free position shots, but had 18 turnovers to nine for the Greyhounds.

Virginia will return to ACC play when it hosts No. 4 North Carolina on Saturday, March 12 at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium before traveling to No. 7 Notre Dame Saturday, March 19.