Top-Ranked Virginia Pushes Past Tech

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April 22, 1998

BLACKSBURG, Va.–The top-ranked Virginia women’s lacrosse team successfully defended its ascent to the top of the polls with a 13-2 defeat of in-state rival Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers secured their fifteenth win in a row against in-state opponents thanks to a hat trick by Meredith Elwell (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) and four caused turnovers and five ground balls by Samm Taylor (Springfield, Va./Robinson).

Neither team was able to score for the first 15 minutes of play, but Elwell finally broke the scoring drought with an assist from Mills Hook (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s). Hook’s assist, her 12th on the season, sets the Virginia record for assists as a rookie. Elwell controlled the next draw and raced downfield and scored ten seconds later, giving the Cavaliers a quick 2-0 lead. Ten minutes later the Cavaliers scored another quick pair of goals as senior captain Kara Ariza (Lansdowne, Pa./Penn Wood) scored unassisted at 4:34 and 29 seconds later freshman Lacey Aumiller (Baltimore, Md./Notre Dame Prep) fed fellow rookie Hook to make the score 4-0. Elwell notched her hat trick 18 seconds before the break as she took a Mia Mooney (Penn Valley, Pa./Shipley) pass to the cage to give the Cavaliers a 5-0 lead at halftime.

Mooney also assisted on the opening goal of the second half as she fed Jess Hull (Arnold, Md./Broadneck) 2:29 into the second period. Mooney upped her consecutive-games with a goal streak to 16 with her goal two minutes later as she took a Stephy Samaras (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis) pass to the cage. Senior captain Peggy Boutilier (Baltimore, Md./Roland Park Country) scored the first of her two goals four minutes later to give the Hoos an 8-0 lead.

Virginia Tech’s Dawn Will broke the Hokie scoring drought with a free position conversion at the 18:31 mark of the second period. Ariza answered right back for the Cavaliers with a goal less than a minute later, and Hull coverted an 8-meter mark 90 seconds later to push Virginia to 10-1. Virginia’s Natalie Soule (Yarmouth, Me./Yarmouth) gave Virginia a ten-goal lead when she scored at the 13:32 mark.

Will scored her second goal of the game with an assist from Catherine Augustyn with 9:17 to play to cut the deficit to nine goals. But the Cavaliers scored twice more as Boutilier added her second goal and Sarah Gercke (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne’s Belfield)scored with 2 seconds left with an assist from Soule for the final score of 13-2.

Besides Taylor’s four caused turnovers, Ariza and Samaras added three caused turnovers each and Ariza added six ground balls. Boutilier and Elwell also contributed five ground balls each. Heather Castle (Timonium, Md./Notre Dame Prep) started in goal and had two saves and allowed no goals in her 38 1/2 minutes of play. She was replaced by Clair Parrish (Richmond, Va./St. Catherine’s) who made no saves while allowing two goals in 12 1/2 minutes. Francis Segarra (Glen Mills, Pa./West Chester East) came in for the final nine minutes and made two saves and allowed no goals.

The Cavaliers welcome the ninth-ranked Temple Owls to Charlottesville on Saturday at 1:00 pm. Temple is ranked just above Virginia in the national stats in scoring margin and right behind the Hoos in scoring defense. The Owls outscore their opponents by eight goals a game but are allowing 5.53 goals per game as compared to the Cavaliers’ 5.46.

                                   1   2   Final (Records)Virginia Tech           0   2   2 (7-6)Virginia     (#1)       5   8   13 (13-2)

Scoring: Goals (V): Elwell 3, Ariza 2, Boutilier 2, Hull 2, Hook, Gercke, Mooney, Soule (VT): Will 2Assists: (V): Mooney 2, Hook, Soule, Samaras, Aumiller (VT): Augustyn Clearing: V: 11-15, VT: 7-16 Draw controls: V: 11, VT: 6 Caused Tvrnovers: V:17, VT: 3Ground balls: V: 32, VT: 14 Fouls: V: 15, VT: 4 Free positions: V:9; VT: 5Shots: V: 33; VT: 11 Saves: V: 4 (Castle 2, Parrish 0, Segarra 2); VT: 16 (Wagner 16)