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No. 16 Virginia Defeats Virginia Tech, 10-5
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April 17, 2013
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 16 Virginia women’s lacrosse closed out the regular season with a 10-5 victory over Virginia Tech.
Ten different Cavalier players scored a goal in the game including seniors Erin Laschinger (Lutherville, Md.) and Caroline McTiernan(Garden City, N.Y.) who had been recognized before the game in the annual Senior Day ceremony.
The victory was the first ACC win of the season for the Cavaliers who improved to 8-8 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Virginia Tech fell to 8-6 and 0-4 in the conference.
“I would say that we were pretty desperate for a win,” said head coach Julie Myers. “The players have done a nice job of working really hard and staying focused. As hard as it has been to lose games, they have really stayed positive and stayed together. It was nice to see that we were able to contribute together and have so many different people scoring goals. Our defense did a nice job of making some big stops as well.”
Laschinger, in the starting lineup for the first time in her career, scored the first goal of the game, bouncing a shot past the Hokies’ goalkeeper.
Morgan Stephens(So., Olney, Md.) won the ensuing draw control, racing down field on the fast break, but was fouled on her shot attempt. Her goal off the free position attempt gave Virginia a 2-0 lead just over four minutes into the game.
Virginia Tech scored its only goal of the first half with 22:14 left in the period. Scores by Ashlee Warner (Jr., Corning, N.Y.), Casey Bocklet (So., South Salem, N.Y.) and Kelly Boyd(Fr., Baltimore, Md.) pushed the Virginia lead to 5-1.
Liza Blue(So., Butler, Md.) scored off a deflection off the cross bar after a missed shot with 17.3 seconds left in the first half to send the Cavaliers into the break with a 6-1 lead.
The Hokies scored the three goals in the first ten minutes of the second half, cutting the lead to 7-4, but goals from Taylor Ranftle (Fr., Hauppauge, N.Y.), McTiernan, and Courtney Swan(So., Vero Beach, Fla.) gave the Cavaliers a 3-0 run that extended the lead to 10-4.
Virginia Tech scored a final goal with just over five minutes remaining and then struggled to get a decent look at the goal the rest of the game.
Kim Kolarik(Sr., Riva, Md.) returned to the starting lineup, playing in goal after missing the last seven games. She made five saves, four of those coming in the first half.
“It’s been hard, after starting for two-and-a-half seasons, to break my hand and have to sit, but now I’m back and it is great,” Kolarik said. “This week in practice has been really good. I feel like it is getting better every day. I’m 100 percent and I’m happy because it is just in time for ACC’s.”
Virginia won the battle of the draw controls, 11-6, including a 6-2 edge in the first period. Stephens and Swan each won four draws. Stephens also had a pair of ground balls.
“I think Courtney [Swan] did a nice job on draw controls to start it off,” Myers said. “We hit enough shots early on. We really shared the ball well. I thought the girls did a nice job of pushing the pace and really making it work for them tonight.”
With the victory, Virginia will earn the No. 5 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament and face the No. 4 seed, Duke, in the first round game. The Atlantic Coast Conference will announce the official bracket, including game times, later on. The ACC Tournament will be held April 25-28 in Chapel Hill, N.C.