Reese and Vander Kolk Earn ACC Weekly Honors
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March 1, 2016
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia women’s lacrosse swept the Atlantic Coast Conference weekly honors as junior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) was named Co-Offensive Player of the Week with Syracuse’s Halle Majorana and sophomore Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) earned Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Tuesday.
Named Inside Lacrosse National Player of the Week earlier on Tuesday in the fan poll, Reese netted a career-high four goals on five shots to propel the Cavaliers past Richmond in its home opener. She scored three of UVA’s first four goals in the game. Reese then improved on her career-high with five goals, including the game-winner to lead Virginia past No. 6 Penn State, to its second win over a top-10 program this season.
Reese had another efficient performance, converting 5-of-7 shots on the day and adding an assist for the Cavaliers. She scored to give UVA a 13-12 lead and added the game-winner to make it 14-12 on her only free position shot of the game. She also picked up a ground ball and had two draw controls in the contest.
Vander Kolk played all 120 minutes in goal in UVA’s wins over Richmond, 18-12, and No. 6 Penn State, 16-13, last week. Vander Kolk picked up nine saves with a team-best four ground balls against Richmond. She had two saves to help hold Richmond scoreless in the final 11 minutes of the first half when UVA went on a 4-0 run.
The goalkeeper made 12 saves, nine in the first half, against 37 shots by the Nittany Lions. With UVA up 4-2, Vander Kolk allowed just one goal on the next 12 shots with six saves. She held Penn State to just 4-of-11 on free position shots and had a team-high four ground balls.
Virginia continues play at home this week with William & Mary on Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m., before welcoming No. 2 Syracuse on Saturday, March 5 at 12 p.m. to begin ACC action.