No. 4 Virginia Hosts Navy on Wednesday

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March 31, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 4 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (8-4, 2-2 ACC) opens a stretch of four-straight home games to close out the 2015 regular-season by hosting Navy (10-2, 4-1 Patriot League), the first-ever meeting between the two schools, on Wednesday, April 1 at 6 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.

Live streaming video of the game will be available online on VirginiaSports.com as part of the Cavaliers Live subscription package. Live statistics (GameTracker) will also be available. The video and live stats also can be accessed through the Virginia Sports app, which is available through iTunes.

The Cavaliers have won five-straight games, including knocking off previously-undefeated No. 2 Boston College, 15-13, last Saturday (March 28) on the road, one week after downing previously-undefeated No. 4 Duke, 13-10, in Charlottesville (March 21).

Virginia moved up to No. 4 in this week’s IWLCA Coaches’ Poll, the program’s highest in-season ranking since 2010.

Senior attacker Casey Bocklet (South Salem, N.Y.), last week’s ACC co-Offensive Player of the Week, earned the honor outright this week after scoring eight goals with five assists in two games. Bocklet has contributed at least four points in each of the last five games, including a career-high eight points (5 goals, 3 assists) at William & Mary and scoring three goals with two assists at BC. In the last three games, Bocklet has scored 12 goals with six assists, including scoring the 100th goal of her UVa career at BC.

Freshman goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week, her first career conference honor. Vander Kolk made 18 saves in the victory over Boston College, including three key stops in the final two minutes, facing 41 shots by the Eagles. Vander Kolk’s 18 saves was the most in a single game by an ACC goalie so far this season, with the tally tied for the sixth-most in the nation. Vander Kolk was also named the Inside Lacrosse co-Rookie of the Week, the second time this season she has earned that honor.

Senior Courtney Swan (Vero Beach, Fla.) won a combined 14 draw controls in UVa’s two games last week. Swan currently ranks eighth in the nation in draw controls, averaging 5.33 per game. Swan also had a combined seven assists last week, giving her 22 this season, the seventh-highest tally in the nation.

Senior Liza Blue (Butler, Md.) has scored at least one goal in each of the last nine games, with seven multi-goal games in that stretch, including back-to-back hat tricks at William & Mary and Boston College. Blue is ranked ninth in the ACC, averaging 2.50 goals per game. Liza Blue, with 122 career goals, needs to score three more to tie Cyn Mathes (1988-91) for 10th place on the Virginia career goals list.

Navy is coming off a loss to Colgate on March 28, just its second loss of the season. The Middies are limiting opponents to 6.67 points per game, seventh-lowest in the NCAA, and are ranked fifth in the nation with a +6.92 scoring margin.

Katie Gallagher earned Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors (March 23), after causing three turnovers in the win over American and tallying three goals, two ground balls and two caused turnovers in the win over Boston. In the same week, Loren Generi was named this week’s Naval Academy Athlete Association Athlete of the Week after scoring nine points on five goals and four assists along with 14 draw controls throughout the week. Generi leads the nation with 58 points this season.

The Cavaliers return to ACC action on Saturday, April 4, hosting No. 17 Notre Dame at 1 p.m. Single-game reserved seats are available for all women’s home games for $7. Single-game general admission adult tickets for women’s home games are $5, while youth (18 and under), seniors (60 and over), and UVa faculty and staff tickets are $4 each.