No. 11 Virginia Hosts No. 4 Northwestern Sunday Night

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Date and Time Sunday, April 7, 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Location Charlottesville, Va. | Klöckner Stadium

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April 5, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 11 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (7-6, 0-4 ACC) hosts No. 4 Northwestern (9-1, 3-0 Big Ten) on Sunday, April 7 at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium in the first contest of a three-game homestand that will close out the regular season.

Northwestern holds a 7-5 edge in the series and has won each of the last six meetings, including twice defeating the Cavaliers in the NCAA Championship game (2005 and 2007). Virginia’s last win over the Wildcats was in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament when UVa earned a 15-11 victory en route to winning the National Championship. Last season, Virginia fell 13-6 to the then-ranked No. 1 Wildcats in Chicago.

Northwestern will take on No. 8 Penn State on Friday night (April 5) in Chicago before facing Virginia on Sunday night. Last Sunday, Northwestern defeated Syracuse, 13-12. The Wildcats’ only loss this season was at North Carolina, 11-8.

Virginia is averaging 11.23 goals per game while Northwestern scores 14.50 per game. Virginia averages 9.58 turnovers per game, the lowest average among ACC teams, while Northwestern is averaging 13.1 per game.Erin Fitzgerald leads Northwestern in goals (32) and points (36). No one player has double-digit assists on the team. Christina Esposito and Layssa Leonard each have eight assists.

Casey Bocklet (So., South Salem, N.Y.) leads UVa in goals (31) and points (46) and is tied for the team lead in assists (15). Bocklet, who had her streak of games in which she has scored a goal snapped at 11 when she failed to score at Boston College, on Tuesday scored a pair of goals and had an assist in Virginia’s 16-4 victory at American.

Ashlee Warner (Jr., Corning, N.Y.), who is second in goals (26) and points (41) and is tied for the lead in assists (15), has the longest active goal-scoring streak on the team at seven games. Warner and Morgan Stephens (So., Olney, Md.) both have 13-game point streaks.

Stephens had her third hat trick of the season with a three-goal, one-assist performance against American. Stephens has also been a factor on draw controls. She is second on the team with 37 draw controls and is averaging 3.75 per game in the last four games. Stephens also has picked up a ground ball in each of the last three contests.

Courtney Swan (So., Vero Beach, Fla.) had six draw controls at American, the sixth time this year she won five or more draws in a game. She ranks 28th in the NCAA and fourth in the ACC, averaging 3.6 per game. Swan has also scored at least one goal in four of the last five games and has 18 goals and eight assists this season.

Daniela Eppler (So., Baltimore, Md.) has six caused turnovers in the last two games. Eppler has at least one ground ball in each of the last four games and has won at least one draw control in each of the last seven games, including winning five draws at Old Dominion.

After Northwestern, the Cavaliers have two games remaining in the 2013 regular season. They will host No. 17 Johns Hopkins on Thursday, April 11 and Virginia Tech on Wednesday, April 17. The opening draw for both games is slated for 7 p.m.

Single-game tickets to Virginia lacrosse games are $8 (adult general admission) and $6 (youth, senior, faculty/staff general admission). Tickets may be ordered in person at Bryant Hall with a major credit card, by phone at (800) 542-8821 or online. Advance ticket sales end three hours prior to the game. Tickets are also available on game day at the Klöckner Stadium ticket windows beginning one hour prior to the game.