Virginia Rallies to Defeat Syracuse 10-8

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March 3, 2007

The Virginia women’s lacrosse team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to start the game to take a 5-4 lead at the break, and then rallied again down one with 21:33 to play to score five of the final seven goals of the game for the 10-8 victory over Syracuse on the road. Kaitlin Duff led the Cavaliers (3-0) with four draw controls, including three of the final five of the game, which were all won by Virginia. Jess Wasilewski had a goal and two assists in the 5-2 run in the first half, and then Blair Weymouth scored Virginia’s final two goals of the game for the Cavaliers.

After Syracuse’s Katie Rowan scored twice in the first two minutes of the game to spot the Orange to a 2-0 lead, the Cavaliers gained control and set up an offense that saw a shot saved by the SU keeper. On the clear, however, the Orange ran out of bounds behind the cage and Virginia took control. Ashley McCulloch passed the ball to Wasilewski, who fed Brittany Kalkstein for a quickstick goal at 24:17 to get the Cavaliers on the board. Halley Quillinan scored the first of her three goals as she cut down to the cage to give SU another two-goal lead.

Virginia gained control and advanced the ball into their offensive third where the Cavaliers drew two 8-meter attempts before SU was whistled for three seconds. Megan O’Malley converted the free position shot to pull Virginia within one again at 19:41. Ashley Pike gave the Orange another two-goal lead as she scored off a Rowan pass 38 seconds later to give SU a 4-2 lead.

From there, the vaunted Virginia defense held the Orange off the scoreboard, thanks to saves by Kendall McBrearty. One of those saves started a transition that saw Wasilewski draw a shooting space foul. The captain converted the shot, pulling the Cavaliers within one again. Virginia had a chance to tie the game but a Syracuse save and ground ball started a transition that was stopped by Kate Breslin’s tackling back, breaking the clear and giving UVa possession. Wasilewski got the ball behind and fed Kalkstein in front, who scored at 5:38 to tie the game for the first time since the opening draw.

Claire Bordley started the next scoring play as she caused a turnover and snagged the ground ball at the restraining line. Virginia set up for the final shot of the half, and with time winding down Breslin drew a foul at the centre hash and scored with 15 second to play off the 8-meter, giving UVa their first lead of the game.

Syracuse scored twice in the opening nine minutes of the second half off goals from Pike and Quillinan, putting the Orange back in front 6-5. Then the Kaitlin Duff show started. The first-year caused a turnover in transition and Wasilewski picked up the ground ball. Virginia got the ball back to Wasilewski behind the cage, and she again found Kalkstein, who converted the pass to tie the game at 19:19. A Syracuse shot at the other end went wide, and Duff outraced her mark to gain possession at the endline. Virginia took the ball upfield where Ashley McCulloch dumped the ball into Megan Havrilla, who scored at 14:14 to move the Cavaliers back in front. Rowan tied the game for the Orange with her third goal of the game after a Virginia turnover deep in their defensive third with 12:22 to play.

Duff won the ensuing draw control and drew a shooting space foul, that she converted 48 seconds after SU tied the game to put Virginia back on top 8-7. The teams then traded possessions, with Syracuse gaining control on a goal circle violation by the Cavaliers. On the clear, however, Blair Weymouth was fouled off the ball on the restraining line. She gained the ball there and had a clear path to the cage with just the SU keeper to beat, and the second-year converted at 5:56 to give Virginia their largest lead of the game at 9-7. Syracuse pulled within one as the Cavaliers had a clear broken at their own restraining line and the Orange scored with 2:59 to play to cut the deficit to 9-8.

McCulloch, however, won the draw and Virginia was able to get the ball to Weymouth, who drew a shooting space foul right away. Weymouth scored her second consecutive goal just 22 seconds after SU and the Cavaliers moved ahead by two for the second time in the game. Duff won the draw and Virginia was able to retain possession for the remainder of the game.

Virginia returns to action on Wednesday as the Cavaliers travel to Philadelphia to take on Temple in a game postponed from Feb. 25. Opening draw on March 7 is at 1 p.m.

Linescore	1	2	F	recordsVirginia	5	5	10	(3-0)Syracuse	4	4	8	(1-2)

Scoring summary:29:07 SU Rowan (—-) 0-128:04 SU Rowan (—-) 0-224:17 VA Kalkstein (Wasilewski) 1-222:57 SU Quillinan (Depetris) 1-319:41 VA O’Malley (8m) 2-319:03 SU Pike (Rowan) 2-410:05 VA Wasilewski (8m) 3-45:38 VA Kalkstein (Wasilewski) 4-40:15 VA Breslin (8m) 5-425:14 SU Pike (8m) 5-521:33 SU Quillinan (Dove) 5-619:19 VA Kalkstein (Wasilewski) 6-614:14 VA Havrilla (McCulloch) 7-612:22 SU Rowan (—-) 7-711:34 VA Duff (8m) 8-75:56 VA Weymouth 9-72:59 SU Quillinan (Rowan) 9-82:37 VA Weymouth (8m) 10-8

Scoring: VA: Wasilewski 1-3=4; Kalkstein 3-0=3; Weymouth 2-0-2; Havrilla 1-0=1; Breslin 1-0=1; Duff 1-0=1; O’Malley 1-0=1; McCulloch 0-1=1

SU: Rowan 3-2=5; Quillinan 3-0=3; Pike 2-0=2; Depetris 0-1=1; Dove 0-1=1

Keepers: VA: McBrearty (60 mins, 7 saves, 8 GA); Pardee-Hill (60 mins, 13 svs, 10 GA)

Draws: VA 9, SU 11Total shots: VA 32, SU 26Field shots: VA 21, SU 238-meter attempts: VA 13, SU 38-meter shots: VA 10, SU 2Ground balls: VA 15, SU 13Caused turnovers: VA 7, SU 6Fouls: VA 8, SU 18Clearing: VA 7-11; SU 6-14