The No. 12 Virginia women’s lacrosse team used smart, clean and efficient play to upset No. 9 Syracuse, 21-10, Sunday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. The 21 goals scored marks the most the Cavaliers have ever scored against the Orange, while the win is the seventh-straight for Virginia in the all-time series with Syracuse.
It is also the second-straight game the Cavaliers have won by 10 goals this season. Virginia defeated Richmond, 23-13, Wednesday (Feb. 23).
The Cavaliers (2-1) limited their fouls to 10 in the game, while the Orange (1-2) committed 35, including five yellow cards. Virginia also cleaned up its transition game, completing nine of its 10 attempts, while the Cavaliers disrupted three of Syracuse’s seven attempts. Offensively, Virginia notched 21 goals on 36 shots.
Seven Cavaliers scored for Virginia, led by five with hat tricks – including a career-high five goals from junior Charlie Finnigan and a personal-best four from junior Julie Gardner. Finnigan also dished out three assists to mark a career-high eight points.
Redshirt junior Ainsley Baker also contributed four goals, while freshman Maddy Keeshan notched her first career hat trick with three goals. She also tacked on three assists for a personal-best six points.
Junior Josie Owen had four points on three goals and an assist and freshman Dana Boyle had two points on one goal and one assist. Sophomore Annie Thomas rounded out the scoring with one goal.
For Syracuse, Katie Webster led the way with a game-high six goals, while Sarah Holden and Tee Ladouceur each had two and Amy Cross had one.
Fabiani notched the game’s first goal by converting a free position shot at 29:26. The score was the quickest the Cavaliers have gotten on the board this season, but their lead was quickly erased as Syracuse knotted the score at one all at the 28:01 mark.
From there, the Cavaliers strung together a three-goal run. Finnigan sparked the streak with an unassisted goal at 26:44, before Baker converted a free position shot at 24:16 to mark the 10th-straight game she’s had a goal. Finnigan then capped off the spurt with her second of the game at 20:29, giving Virginia a 4-1 lead.
Webster scored for the Orange at 19:37, but the Cavaliers rallied for two more unassisted goals – the first from Thomas, the second from Gardner – to pull ahead 6-2.
A foul on Virginia at 9:11 put Tumolo on the line for a free position attempt, but she found Ladouceur wide open on the crease and found the back of the net for Syracuse, bringing the score to 6-3.
Another three-goal spurt by the Cavaliers gave Virginia a six-goal lead, 9-3. Owen converted a fourth free position shot for UVa at 8:34, before Finnigan watched a shot bounce off the pipes before ultimately going into the goal at 6:36. Gardner fired a fast-break shot into the net 14 seconds later.
Syracuse halted the streak at 5:17 with a score, before Keeshan notched the first multiple-goal game of her career with her second score at 3:50. The Orange closed out the scoring in the first half with a goal at 3:07 to cut Virginia’s lead to 10-5 heading into halftime.
The Orange recorded the first goal of the second half – forcing a turnover in front of the cage and scored on an open net at 27:29. Virginia regrouped to fire four shots into the cage, forcing Syracuse switch its goalie to Alyssa Costantino.
The switch sparked two-goals from the Orange, as Syracuse cut Virginia’s lead to seven, 16-9, by the 14:26 mark. Finnigan then spun around a defender on the next play and scored for the Cavaliers at 14:03, before another from the Orange at 12:52 made the score, 17-10.
Virginia scored the next four goals in the contest – from Baker, Gardner, Finnigan and Owen, respectively – before Syracuse tallied its final goal of the game at 2:03, bringing the final score to 21-10.
Defensively for the Cavaliers, Boyle and Owen each had two ground balls, while Owen, Downs, Gardner and sophomore Megan Dunleavy each caused a turnover.
Owen won a game-high five draw controls, while Boyle and junior Bailey Fogarty each had three. Senior Marghi Walters and sophomore Annie Thomas each earned two draws.
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