Women's Lacrosse at NCAA Championships
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May 8, 1998
The Cavaliers enter the 1998 NCAA Tournament as the top seed. The 1998 ACC Champions, the Cavaliers are riding a ten-game winning streak. They take on the Princeton Tigers, ranked seventh in the final poll and seeded eighth. Virginia met Princeton earlier this year when the Tigers were ranked second in the country. Virginia defeated Princeton 9-4, handing the Tigers their first loss of the season. The game was a “Samarasfest” as two of the Samaras sisters play for Princeton and one plays for Virginia.
Cavalier Notes:
Can’t win when you don’t score!:With the victory over Loyola, the Cavaliers become the nation’s leader in scoring defense, allowing only 5.58 goals per game. The Cavalier field hockey team, fow which Boutilier, Kara Ariza (Lansdowne, Pa./Penn Wood), Melissa Hayes (Chevy Chase, Md./ George-town Visitation) and Elwell all start, led the nation in scoring defense earlier this year, allowing less than a goal per game. The 1997 field hockey team advanced to the National Semifinals for the first time in school history. Castle ranks first in the nation with a leading 5.94 goals-per-game. Every other goalie in the country lets in at least 6 goals a game.
Living on the margin: Virginia ranks fourth in the country in scoring margin, beating teams by an average of 6.59 goals per game. The Cavaliers are on pace for their best scoring margin in school history. The current record for a season is in 1993. The NCAA champions of 1993 outscored their opponents by 6.68 goals per game en route to the title.
Can’t score if you don’t shoot!: Virginia allows only 14.5 shots a game, which helps contribute to the low scoring. Virginia has shot twice as many times as their opponents (508 to 247).
Five alive!: Virginia has shown a balanced scoring attack as five different people have scoring totals of 30 or more. Nine different Hoos have notched 10 goals or more, and six of those nine have also hit the game-winner in all of the Cavalier wins this season.
Shooting for the stars: Virginia’s 12.2 goals per game average ranks as the fifth-best goal output in school history. The record is held by the 1985 team, which hit 14.0 goals per game. The record for total goals in a season is 225, scored by the 1994 team.
History says. . . : The Cavaliers have a 1-2 record on May 9. The Hoos lost to Temple 9-2 in 1980 and to Penn State in 1987 14-9. In 1992 UVa defeated Penn State 11-5 in the NCAA quarterfinals at Virginia.
Two-minute drill: The Cavaliers have made 34 quick strikes in the season, scoring less than a minute after their last goal or their opponent’s last goal. Conversely, the Hoos have only allowed 15 return quick strikes. Over the Hill?–Julie Myers, the Cavaliers’ mentor, has coached in 54 games at Virginia and holds a 43-11 record in those 54 games. She has the best record among UVa coaches in her first 50 games.
Halfin a good time! — In 34 halves of play, the Cavaliers have outscored their opponents in 27 of them, tied their opponents in four of them, and have only been outscored in three halves this season. Virginia has allowed no goals in four halves (all first half) and allowed 1 goal in six halves (five in the second half). Virginia has been held to one goal in a half only once this season (1st half vs Maryland). Conversely, the Cavaliers have reached double digits in a half three times (1st, GTown, 1st, Richmond, 2nd, JMU) and have tallied nine in a half four times (1st, ODU, 1st, UMBC, 2nd, UMBC, 1st, Villanova).
Deja vue–The Cavaliers have played a team more than once in a season 34 times. Only once has it gone to three games (UNC, 1997). In the other 33 series, the Cavaliers have swept the series 13 times, been swept 10 times, split after winning the first five times and have beat the team that beat them earlier four times. (The Hoos have also lost after tying the first game.)
April is NOT the cruelest month: The Cavaliers picked up a perfect month of April with their defeat of the Greyhounds (9 wins). Overall, the Cavaliers are 156-50-4 (75.2%) all-time in April. In 1985, 1991, 1992, and 1993 the Cavaliers were also perfect in what T. S. Eliot calls the “cruelest month.” Actually, April is the Cavaliers’ best month in terms of winning percentage.
Perfect 10!–but we want LUCKY 13: The ten-game winning streak in this season is the fourth-longest streak overall and the third-longest streak in a single season. Three more wins–which would mean the NCAA Championship–would be the longest streak in school history in a single season.