Cavaliers Draw Up Win over Syracuse

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March 4, 2006

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First-year Blair Weymouth led all players with four draw controls and added six crucial points as Virginia defeated Syracuse today (Mar 4) 14-9 in Charlottesville. Classmate Whitaker Hagerman led all scorers with a game-high five goals, including the first of her collegiate career, as Virginia used a 6-1 run midway through the first half to create space, thanks in large part to a 9-5 advantage in draw controls in the first half. One of those draws belonged to Nikki Lieb, the 100th of her illustrious career. The Cavalier defense surrendered only two eight-meter attempts throughout the game.

Ginger Miles started it off for the Cavaliers as she made one of her seven saves on Syracuse’s first shot, and Meredith Lazarus gathered the loose ball, starting a clear in which she sent the bell up to Lieb, who passed it to Tyler Leachman, who took the ball from the top and scored at 2:51 to put the Hoos on the board first. Leachman started the second goal as she picked up an errant Orange pass on the restraining line and Virginia set up their offense at the other end. Weymouth notched the first of her four goals on a crease roll at 5:13 to put the Cavaliers up 2-0. SU then scored twice in two minutes off a crease roll by Caitlyn Dragon and a drive by Gaddy Fortune to tie the game at 2-2 at 11:29.

Virginia then used a four-goal run, bookended by 8-meter goals by Hagerman, to create space between themselves and the Orange. A Miles save started the first sequence, and the Cavaliers set up their offense after the clear and Hagerman converted the free position shot after being fouled to give UVa a lead at 15:17 with her first collegiate goal. A Syracuse turnover behind the Virginia goal gave Kim Connors possession, and the Hoos transitioned the ball to the other end where Jen Holden dumped the ball over to Weymouth, who scored her second goal of the game to give UVa a two-goal lead at 17:43. Weymouth started the next goal as she intercepted a pass in the midfield, and after settling their offense, Virginia gave the ball to Lieb, who was fouled on a drive to the cage. Lieb scored to give the Hoos a 5-2 lead. Meredith Lazarus won the ensuing draw and the Cavaliers settled their offense before Hagerman was fouled again on a drive to the cage. She converted the free position shot for her second goal of the game, putting UVa up 6-2 at 21:28. A second Dragon goal for the Orange at 22:48 stopped the UVa run.

The Cavaliers answered immediately as Lieb controlled the draw, the 100th of her All-American career, and fed Hagerman, who took on a drive from the side to notch a natural hat trick at 23:34 and push the margin back to four at 7-3. Jess Wasilewski won the ensuing draw and Virginia again settled their offense before Leachman was fouled in the arc, placing her on the 8-meter. The fourth-year converted the shot 65 seconds after Hagerman’s goal to give UVa an 8-2 lead. SU’s Kathryn Rowan scored at 26:53 to pull the Orange back within four, but a Weymouth drive from the top, her third of the game, gave the Cavaliers a 9-4 lead at halftime.

Weymouth then won the opening draw of the second half, and the Cavaliers settled their offense before Weymouth drew her defender and dumped the ball inside to Hagerman, who scored at 31:36. Syracuse answered as Rowan scored her second goal of the game just over three minutes later, and then Fortune scored her second goal at 39:26 to pull the Orange within four at 10-6 nine minutes into the second half.

The vaulted Cavalier defense held the Orange off the scoreboard for the next fifteen minutes while the Hoos scored four goals, starting with a Hagerman draw control. She flipped the ball to Weymouth, who gave it right back to Hagerman for a give-and-go that Hagerman converted for her fifth goal of the game, which came just 23 second after SU’s sixth goal.

Ashley McCulloch started the next sequence as she knocked down an SU pass in the midfield and gave the Cavaliers possession. In the offensive set, Lieb drove to the cage and scored at 45:36 to take a 12-6 lead. Weymouth won the next draw control and the Cavaliers settled their offense. The first-year gained possession again and was fouled on a drive. She converted the 8-meter shot to put Virginia up 13-6. Weymouth again won the draw control and Virginia quickly got the ball behind the cage, where McCulloch fed Kate Breslin, who scored 43 seconds after Weymouth to give the Hoos their largest lead of the game at 14-6. Syracuse then scored the final three goals of the game, as Fortune scored her third and then Meghan O’Connell scored twice in a row to make the final 14-9.

Hagerman’s five goals is a high this year for a single game for a Cavalier in 2006 while this is Weymouth’s second four-goal, two-assist outing. The 17 draws is a season-high for the Cavaliers, and Lieb is the tenth person in school history to record 100 draws in a career.

The Cavaliers are back on the road with a game against Maryland on March 7. Game time against the Terps is 7:00 in College Park.

Linescore	1	2	F	(records)Syracuse	4	5	9	(2-1)Virginia		9	5	14	(3-1)

Scoring summary:2:51 V Leachman — 1-0 5:13 V Weymouth — 2-0 9:34 S Dragon — 2-111:29 S Fortune — 2-215:17 V Hagerman 8m 3-217:43 V Weymouth Holden 4-220:14 V Lieb 8m 5-221:28 V Hagerman 8m 6-222:48 S Dragon Depetris 6-323:34 V Hagerman — 7-324:39 V Leachman 8m 8-326:53 S Rowan — 8-429:15 V Weymouth — 9-439:26 S Fortune — 9-531:36 V Hagerman Weymouth 10-533:53 S Rowan — 10-639:49 V Hagerman Weymouth 11-645:36 V Lieb — 12-652:53 V Weymouth 8m 13-653:36 V Breslin McCulloch 14-654:25 S Fortune — 14-755:40 S O’Connell — 14-859:06 S O’Connell Depetris 14-9

Scoring: V: Weymouth 4-2-6; Hagerman 5-0-5; Leachman 2-0-2; Lieb 2-0-2; Breslin 1-0-1; McCulloch 0-1-1; Holden 0-1-1 S: Fortune 3-0-3; Dragon 2-0-2; O’Connell 2-0-2; Rowan 2-0-2; Depetris 0-2-2

Goalies: V: Miles: (60 mins, 7 saves, 9 GA) S: Jen Kasel (54 mins, 8 saves, 12 GA); Ashley Pike (6 mins, 1 save, 2 GA)

Shots: VA 30, SU 20Draws: VA 17, SU 8Ground balls: VA 21, SU 18Turnovers: VA 18, SU 168-meter attempts: VA 14, SU 28-meter shots: VA 13, SU 2Caused turnovers: VA 4, SU 10Clearing: VA 11-16; SU 13-16Fouls: VA 9, SU 38