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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 4 Virginia women’s lacrosse team fought off a stingy Harvard squad Monday evening at Klöckner Stadium and used a 14-9 victory over the Crimson to pick up its 10th win of the season.

Senior Caity Whiteley led Virginia, tying a career-high four goals to go with an assist for a personal-best five points. Senior All-American Brittany Kalkstein led five Cavaliers with two goals, also chipping in three assists for five points. Senior All-American Kaitlin Duff and sophomore Julie Gardner each had two goals and an assist, while sophomores Charlie Finnigan and Josie Owen both had two goals.

For Harvard (4-6), Melanie Baskind led the way with three scores, while Danielle Tetreault had two goals and an assist.

For just the fourth time this season, the Cavaliers gave up the first goal of the game, a score from VanderMeulen at 25:09. Virginia responded though, with a goal from Owen at 23:33. Duff then scored on a pass from Whiteley at 22:47, before returning the favor to Whiteley at 21:35 to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 advantage.

Harvard would respond with back-to-back goals to tie the score for a second time. From there, the two squads would knot the score four more times before Kalkstein passed up a free position opportunity to dish a pass to Whiteley – who flung a shot past Crimson keeper Kerry Clark for a score with just 28 seconds on the clock, giving the Cavaliers a one-goal, 8-7, advantage heading into halftime.

Whiteley tacked on her fourth goal of the game, sneaking around the crease and slipped a goal into the net just 1:18 into the second half.

The Crimson notched their first score of the second stanza at 24:58 to pull within one, 8-9, but Kalkstein converted back-to-back 8-meter shots to extend the Cavaliers’ lead back to three, at 11-8.

Harvard attempted a comeback, scoring a goal at 21:38, but the game would remain scoreless until the three-minute mark, when Finnigan converted a free position shot to bring the score to 12-9.

Duff tacked on an unassisted score at 2:19 and Kalkstein won the ensuing draw control and passed ahead to a wide-open Gardner, who fired the final goal of the contest into the net nine seconds later.

Kalkstein once again led the way on draw controls, tying a career-high with nine. Junior Liz Downs anchored the defense with three caused turnovers and three ground balls, while Duff scooped up a game-high five ground balls.

In goal, redshirt junior Lauren Benner stopped seven shots.

The Cavaliers (10-3, 3-1 ACC) will face a quick turnaround and head to Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. contest against conference-foe Virginia Tech.

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