The No. 4 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (9-4, 2-2 ACC) earned a 15-13 victory over Navy (10-3, 4-1 Patriot League)on Wednesday (April 1), the sixth-straight win for the Cavaliers.
“No one thought this was going to be easy because Navy is a really good team with a lot of hard-workers,” said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. “When we scored 10 goals in the first half, I am sure that our attackers thought we would be able to score at least eight or nine goals in the second half, but Navy really got better as the game went on. Our team did just enough to hang on for the win. We have had a couple of injuries in the defense, and I think we felt that tonight, but we are just moving forward and building on the lessons we learned tonight.”
Seniors Courtney Swan (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) each scored four goals with Swan also contributing a pair of assists. Senior Casey Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.) scored three goals with an assist. Senior Morgan Stephens (Olney, Md.) won a career-high nine draw controls and caused a pair of turnovers. Freshman goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) made 12 saves, including eight in the first half.
Navy’s Julia Collins scored four goals on four shots while also winning four draws. Goalkeeper Annie Foky made seven saves.
Virginia jumped out to a 4-1 lead, extending its advantage to 10-4 on a goal from Bockelt with five minutes remaining before halftime. Navy scored the final goal of the period to trail 10-5 at the break.
After the two teams traded goals in the first ten minutes of the second half, Navy scored three goals in a span of three minutes to cut the deficit to two, 12-10. Swan scored a quick goal 16 seconds after a draw control to give Virginia some breathing room but Navy continued to chip away at the lead, scoring with 11:44 left and then again with 7:13 remaining to make it a one-point game, 13-12. The Midshipmen won the ensuing draw control, but Navy turned the ball over with Swan picking up the ground ball and then setting up a Bocklet goal with 6:21 remaining. Swan set up Blue on a goal a minute and a half later to give Virginia a 15-12 lead.
Navy scored with 1:04 remaining in the game to pull within two, 15-13. The Mids won the next draw control with Loren Generi earning a free position shot with 36 seconds remaining. Generi’s shot ricocheted off the post with senior Kelsey Gahan (Cockeysville, Md.) scooping up the ground ball. Virginia turned the ball over during its clear attempt, but Navy threw the ball away with senior Daniela Eppler (Baltimore, Md.) coming up with the ground ball and giving possession back to the Cavaliers for the final seconds of the game.
Navy outshot Virginia, 33-27, while both teams won 15 draw controls.
Blue’s four goals in the game give her 126 total in her career, moving her into 10th place on the Virginia career goals-scored list.
With the win over Navy, Virginia finishes its regular-season non-conference slate with a 7-2 mark.
The Cavaliers have three home games remaining in the regular-season, all against ACC opponents. Next up, Virginia hosts No. 17 Notre Dame on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.
Single-game reserved seats are available for all women’s home games for $7. Single-game general admission adult tickets for women’s home games are $5, while youth (18 and under), seniors (60 and over), and UVa faculty and staff tickets are $4 each.
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