Eagles Visit Klockner Stadium for ACC Showdown
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – This weekend, the No. 4 Virginia women’s lacrosse team will host a second-straight opponent in which it’s never lost to. ACC-foe Boston College (3-6, 2-1 ACC), coming off an upset win over then-No. 7 North Carolina, 5-4 in double overtime, will visit Klckner Stadium for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.
In six prior meetings between the Cavaliers and Eagles, Virginia has come out on top of all of them. But, only three have been played in the last 13 years. The series between the two programs began in 1989, with Virginia winning the inaugural contest, 12-3. In 1990, the Eagles closed the scoring gap, but the Cavaliers won the battle 7-5 that year. In 1994, the Cavaliers gathered another victory, this time by a score of 8-5.
The two didn’t meet again until 2006 when Boston College joined the ACC. Virginia won the first league contest, 18-3. The Cavaliers then collected two wins over Boston College within six days last year.
The Cavaliers closed out their regular season with a 13-6 win over the Eagles on April 21. The two then met again in the first round of the ACC Tournament on April 26, with Virginia won the meeting, 15-7, to advance in the conference tournament. Junior Blair Weymouth led Virginia in the two games, scoring a total of eight goals with two assists.
For Virginia this season, juniors Ashley McCulloch and Jenny Hauser lead the attack. McCulloch has a team-high 33 points and 21 assists, while Hauser leads the squad with 23 goals. Sophomores Brittany Kalkstein and Kaitlin Duff anchor the midfield, with Kalkstein winning 33 draw controls and Duff collecting 27 ground balls.
For Boston College, goalie Katie Monaghan earned Inside Lacrosse and womenslax.com National Player of the Week honors after shutting down the Tar Heels last Saturday. The junior, averaging 12.53 goals per game and stopping .401 percent of shots faced, stopped 13 of UNC’s shots, while holding North Carolina to just four goals in the game.
She is helped on the other end of the field by attackers Jenna McCabe and Lauren Costello. McCabe has 24 goals on the season, while Costello has scored 19 times and won 16 draw controls.
The Cavaliers are currently counting down to 400 program wins. The program entered its 33rd season with 389 wins, and in collecting nine so far this season, Virginia is two away from the milestone.
The Cavaliers (9-2, 3-1 ACC) will play it’s final road game this season on Wednesday, traveling to Georgetown for a 3:30 p.m. meeting with the Hoyas.