Q&A with Yeardley Love

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Yeardley Love is a junior midfielder on the Cavaliers’ women’s lacrosse team this year. She has tallied six goals, while scooping up nine ground balls and causing seven turnovers for Virginia. The Cavaliers ranked seventh nationally are coming off an overtime win against in-state rival William & Mary Tuesday night and will play host to No. 9 Princeton on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Klckner Stadium.

Question: The team has had a lot of early season home games this year, what are you looking forward to in this week’s home games?
Love: Home games are always an advantage for us. We are familiar with the field and we are more comfortable playing in Klckner Stadium. We also hate losing on our own turf, which always gives us an extra motivation. We have two big games in the following weekends. This coming weekend we play Princeton, who beat us last year in the last few seconds of the game. The following weekend we play Duke, and right now it is important for us to get an ACC win. I hope we are going to use our home field advantage and come out with two big wins.

Question: With a recent come-from-behind overtime win against Penn State and last season’s last-second one-goal loss at Princeton – in those kind of close games, what is the difference maker? Offense or defense?
Love: It is not just the attack or the defense that causes those things to happen. Our team -as a whole – works together to make it happen. In our Penn State game for example, the defense had a huge turnover in the final seconds of the game. The ball was quickly transitioned into the attack and ended with a goal. If it weren’t for the defense we wouldn’t have been able to get the ball back, and if it weren’t for the offense we wouldn’t have gotten the goal. One great thing about our team is that we do everything together.

Question: What do you think will be the keys to the team’s success this year?
Love: We have all the talent and skill to be successful, we just need to execute it. We have to be able to go all out and play without fear. We are coming off two hard losses to Maryland and North Carolina. We need to learn from those losses and move on.

Question: Do you have any pregame rituals during the season?
Love: This year, we all meet in our locker room before we walk up to Klckner Stadium. One of the seniors either reads us a motivational story or gives a speech of their own. This has been great for us; it brings us together to help focus on the game and it really pumps us up before we walk up to the field.

Question: Who has most influenced your lacrosse career and how?
Love: My high school coach has definitely influenced my lacrosse career. She was an awesome coach that always pushed me to work harder. She not only prepared me to play at the college level, but she taught me important life lessons. She always put a strong focus on good sportsmanship and working together as a team.

Question: What made you decide to come to Virginia to play lacrosse?
Love: I had wanted to play lacrosse at Virginia since I was little, so coming here was like a dream come true.