Cavaliers Cruise Past Richmond
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 4 Virginia women’s lacrosse team extended its streak of easy wins with a 16-7 victory over Richmond Wednesday night at Klckner Stadium. With the win, the Cavaliers move to 3-0 on the young season, while the Spiders fall to 0-4.
Senior All-American Blair Weymouth got the scoring started at the 28:15 mark with her first of five goals on the evening. Junior Yeardley Love tallied her first 13 seconds later, before Richmond’s Mandy Friend got the Spiders on the board with a goal at 26:44.
Love put Virginia up 3-1 with another score, but Richmond cut Virginia’s lead back to one with a goal from Mary Flowers at 20:57. Senior All-American Ashley McCulloch tallied her first point and Weymouth converted a free position shot to make it 5-2 in favor of Virginia by 16:51.
Allison Furstenburg tallied another score for Richmond, but the Cavaliers answered with six-consecutive goals for an 11-3 advantage with 35 seconds on the clock. The Spiders’ Caitlin Fifield then cut into Virginia’s lead with two seconds remaining in the half, allowing Virginia to take a seven-goal advantage into the intermission, at 11-4.
The Virginia offense found its rhythm in the second half, with senior All-American Jenny Hauser, Weymouth, and junior Kaitlin Duff scoring three unanswered goals in less than two minutes.
Sam Tajirian of Richmond found the back of the net at the 23:31 mark halting the Cavaliers’ run and bringing the score to 14-5. Kalkstein and Hauser teamed up a few minutes later for another goal, extending Virginia’s lead to 10. Five minutes later, Weymouth scored her fifth goal of the evening after outrunning the Spiders’ defense and going one-on-one with the goalie.
The Richmond offense pushed in the last few minutes, with Friend scoring at 9:32 and Fifield notching a goal from a free position shot as the clock wound down, accounting for the final score of 16-7.
Overall, Weymouth led the attack with five goals, while McCulloch, the current national and conference player of the week, tallied three goals and three assists for a game-high six points. Hauser, in her season-debut, had two goals and three assists. Junior Brittany Kalkstein tallied two goals – her firsts of the season – while redshirt junior Whitaker Hagerman and Duff rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Freshman Josie Owen contributed an assist.
Defensively, Duff and redshirt freshman Ainsley Baker collected a game-high four ground balls each, while Kalkstein won a game-high six draw controls. Duff also caused four turnovers, while senior Sarah Hackman collected a career-high three caused turnovers.
In goal, redshirt sophomore Lauren Benner collected a career-high 12 saves, while allowing just six goals.
For Richmond, Victoria Roebuck relieved starter Erica Marrocco and stopped five Cavalier shots while allowing just one score.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Friday, facing No. 2 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. Opening draw is slated for 4 p.m.