Cavaliers Earn Bye in ACC Tournament With Win Over Eagles

Story Links

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s lacrosse team earned a bye in the first round of the ACC Tournament Saturday afternoon with a 12-4 win over conference-foe Boston College. ACC Player of the Week junior Jenny Hauser led all scorers with four goals on the afternoon.

Senior Megan O’Malley and sophomore Brittany Kalkstein each notched three goals and junior Ashley McCulloch had one goal and three assists. Junior Blair Weymouth tallied a goal and an assist, while senior Kaitlin Swagart contributed an assist.

Kalkstein, the single-season record holder for draw controls, collected a team-high four draws to move into 10th place on Virginia’s all-time career list. The sophomore has won 106 draw controls in two seasons.

Senior Claire Bordley led the defense with five ground balls, while Kalkstein scooped up four and junior Jen Holden won three. Bordley also caused four turnovers, while Hauser caused three.

In goal, senior Kendall McBrearty stopped six shots, while allowing only four goals.

Boston College was led by goalkeeper Katie Monaghan’s 14 saves. Four Eagles tallied scores, while Lauren Costello had two assists.

The Cavaliers won the opening draw control, but the Eagles forced a turnover giving Boston College the first offensive possession of the game. The Eagles took their time finding the right shot, but the Cavaliers regained possession after the Eagles fired a shot wide.

O’Malley took advantage of the Virginia’s first possession, firing a pass from McCulloch into the net at 24:59. Bordley won the ensuing draw control and passed it ahead to Weymouth. Weymouth ran behind the cage before finding Kalkstein who completed the score for the Cavaliers at 24:29.

A second score from O’Malley within a minute of her first pushed Virginia ahead, 3-0, by the 24:01 mark.

The next 16 minutes remained scoreless, before Hauser found the back of the net on a free position shot. Boston College then tallied their first score at 4:55 from Lauren Fitzpatrick.

Hauser closed out the half for Virginia notching two goals. She scored her first at 1:54 and a second with nine seconds remaining, giving the Cavaliers a 6-1 halftime edge.

Swagart assisted Kalkstein at 27:46 of the second half to open scoring. McCulloch made it two-straight for Virginia a minute later. Sarah Sedgwick broke-up the four-goal run of the Cavaliers’ with a score at 26:25.

The Cavaliers tallied the next three straight to jump ahead 11-2, with scores from O’Malley, Weymouth and Kalkstein.

Maura Mahoney and Jenna McCabe added back-to-back scores for the Eagles, and Hauser marked a fourth score to bring the final count to 12-4.

Virginia (10-2, 4-1 ACC) will play their final road game of the season this week, traveling to Georgetown for a 3:30 p.m. contest against the Hoyas.