No. 8 Virginia Hosts No. 4 North Carolina

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March 11, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 8 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (4-3, 0-1 ACC) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play when it hosts No. 4 North Carolina (4-2, 0-0 ACC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium.

Live stats and live video stream will be available on VirginiaSports.com.

Virginia has lost its last two games after winning three-straight contests at home. The Cavaliers most recently fell 7-6 at Loyola on Wednesday. UVA was down, 7-3, with eight minutes to play when they scored three-straight goals to pull within one, but were unable to complete the comeback.

Sophomore Daniela Kelly (Rumston, N.J.) led UVA with two goals against the Greyhounds, while four players each scored one goal. Senior Ella Cooper (Cockeysville, Md.) recorded three caused turnovers and three ground balls.

Saturday’s contest will be the 35th meeting between Virginia and North Carolina. The Tar Heels lead the series, 21-13, but UVA has an 8-6 advantage in games played in Charlottesville. UNC won last year’s meeting 10-7 in Chapel Hill. The last win for UVA came in the NCAA Quarterfinals on May 17, 2014. UVA edged the Tar Heels 10-9 to advance to the NCAA Final Four.

This will be the ACC opener for North Carolina. The Tar Heels are coming off a 20-9 win over Albany after falling to then No. 8 Florida (16-15) and No. 1 Maryland (8-7). Molly Hendrick (19 goals, 3 assists) and Marie McCool (18 goals, four assists) lead North Carolina with 22 points so far this season. Sammy Jo Tracy has 55 draw controls and four players have picked up double figure ground balls.

1991 National Championship Team
The 1991 Virginia women’s lacrosse team will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s game. The team is part of this year’s National Girls and Women in Sports Day theme “Teammates for Life: Celebrating Champions 25 Years Later.”

Virginia head coach Julie Myers and North Carolina head coach Jenny Levy were both members of the team.

UVA made history by winning the first of the program’s three NCAA championships. The Cavaliers, who were coached by current UVA athletics administrator Jane Miller, finished with a 17-1 record that season, the most wins in school history and with what is still the program’s best single season winning percentage.

Virginia will have a week off before traveling to No. 6 Notre Dame on Saturday, March 19. The Cavaliers will host its final mid-week home contest when it welcomes James Madison on Wednesday, March 23.

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.