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No. 10 Virginia Earns 10-3 Victory at William and Mary
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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The 10th-ranked Virginia women’s lacrosse team built an early lead and relied on its defense late to earn a 10-3 victory at William and Mary on Wednesday (March 14). Sloan Warren (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored three goals for Virginia, three Cavaliers scored two goals apiece and Josie Owen (Gibson Island, Md.) tallied a game-high five assists.
Virginia improved to 4-3 overall with the victory while William and Mary’s record dropped to 2-5.
Warren scored two of her goals in the second half and added one in the first, while Katie Slater (Kensington, Md.), Julie Gardner (Severna Park, Md.) and Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) each scored two goals apiece for UVa.
Owen entered the game leading the Atlantic Coast Conference by averaging 2.5 assists per game and tallied five vs. the Tribe to up her team-high season total to 20.
“We played a clean game and we were able to stay with the game plan,” Virginia head coach Julie Myers said. “Our kids did a great job making it count and coming up with big plays when we needed them. Draw controls were huge and Josie Owen was huge also directing the attack and assisting on five goals.”
The teams were scoreless through the first nine minutes of the match, before back-to-back free position goals by Blue and Slater gave Virginia a 2-0 lead at the 17:31 mark.
Ainsley Baker (Corning, N.Y.) made it a 3-0 Virginia run to open the game, catching a pass from behind the goal from Owen and finding the back of the net.
William and Mary scored two of the half’s three remaining goals, as Tribe midfielders Katie Stillwell and Jenna Dougherty scored unassisted goals at the 13:18 and 7:48 marks, respectively.
A Cavalier goal by Warren with 11:55 remaining in the first half wrapped up UVa’s scoring in the first stanza as Virginia led, 4-2.
The second half began in similar fashion to the first, as neither team capitalized on offensive possessions for nearly the first 10 minutes.
Slater got her second goal of the game at the 19:50 mark of the second half, coming from behind the goal to her right for the score. Gardner made it two in a row for Virginia 32 seconds later on an unassisted goal that made the score 6-2 in favor of UVa with 18:54 left to play.
For the remainder of the game, Virginia held the Tribe to one goal while scoring four more goals to earn the 10-3 victory.
Kim Kolarik (Riva, Md.) played all 60 minutes in goal for Virginia and registered eight saves. Megan Dunleavy (Fairfax Station, Va.) led UVa defensively with two caused turnovers and a ground ball.
Virginia out-shot the Tribe, 26-14, and held a commanding 12-3 lead on draw controls. Warren led all players with five draw controls.
Up next for UVa is a Saturday (March 17) road game at Princeton. The contest vs. the Tigers is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.