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No. 12 Virginia Faces No. 19 Johns Hopkins In Nationally Televised Contest
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CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia women’s lacrosse team will travel to Baltimore, Md., to take on Johns Hopkins on Wednesday (April 11) at 5:30 p.m. The game, being played at historic Homewood Field, will be nationally televised on ESPNU with Mark Dixon and Courtney Martinez Connor calling the action. Live statistics can be accessed at VirginiaSports.com.
Virginia (9-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won five of its last six games and is ranked No. 12 in the IWLCA coaches poll. The Blue Jays (7-4, 0-2 American Lacrosse Conference) are coming off an overtime loss to No. 5 Florida and are ranked 19th by the coaches.
The Cavaliers were upset in overtime by Virginia Tech, 10-9, in their last outing on Saturday (April 7). Prior to that contest, UVa had won five-consecutive games. Johns Hopkins represents UVa’s second-to-last regular-season opponent, as the Cavaliers head to the ACC Tournament from April 20-23 in Durham, N.C., before the regular-season finale at No. 1 Northwestern on April 28.
Senior attacker Josie Owen (Gibson Island, Md.), recently singled out by Inside Lacrosse as one of 10 individuals in the National Player of the Year race, leads Virginia in points (62), goals (32), assists (30) and draw controls (34). She notched her 100th career goal vs. the Hokies and enters Wednesday’s game with 102 goals over her four-year career.
Owen ranks sixth nationally in total points and 17th in points per game (4.43).
Putting together an impressive freshman campaign, Sloan Warren (Philadelphia, Pa.) is second on the team in points (31) and goals (21). Ainsley Baker (Corning, N.Y.) has tallied 20 goals while Katie Slater (Kensington, Md.) and Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) round out the Cavaliers’ starting attack and have scored 16 goals apiece.
From her midfield position, senior Julie Gardner (Severna Park, Md.) has scored 13 goals and added 11 assists, while gathering 13 ground balls.
Defensively for Virginia, Kim Kolarik (Riva, Md.) is expected to return between the pipes after missing the Virginia Tech contest with an injury. Kolarik has a 9.91 goals-against average and leads the Cavaliers with 32 ground balls. She has caused eight turnovers for Virginia.
Kelsey Gahan (Towson, Md.) and Megan Dunleavy (Fairfax Station, Va.) lead UVa with 11 and 10 caused turnovers, respectively. Daniela Eppler (Baltimore, Md.) is also putting up one of the more impressive rookie campaigns in the country, as she is second on the team in draw controls (30) and has 14 ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
Virginia leads the all-time series with Johns Hopkins, 2-1. The teams met during the 2005, 2007 and 2008 regular seasons, with Virginia winning in Charlottesville in ’05 and ’08 and the Blue Jays prevailing in 2007 on their home field. The 2007 loss to Johns Hopkins was one of Virginia’s four losses that season, as the Cavaliers advanced to the national championship game and finished with a 19-4 mark.
Johns Hopkins is led by Taylor D’Amore’s 49 points on 24 goals and 25 assists, followed by Candace Rossi’s 39 points on 21 goals and 18 assists. The Blue Jays are out-scoring opponents 139-103 and out-drawing opponents 160-104.
Johns Hopkins head coach Janine Tucker is in her 19th season. Her son, Ryan Tucker, is a freshman midfielder on the Virginia men’s lacrosse team.
Following Wednesday’s game, UVa will have an eight-day break from competition before the 2012 ACC Tournament, being held in Durham, N.C., beginning on April 20 with the quarterfinals.