No. 9 Virginia Drops ACC Contest at No. 5 Notre Dame
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Box Score March 19, 2016
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – No. 5 Notre Dame (9-1, 3-1 ACC) recorded a key ACC victory over the No. 9 Virginia Cavaliers (4-5, 0-3) on Saturday afternoon, 16-4, inside Arlotta Stadium.
UVA goalie Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) was inundated by 43 Notre Dame shots (31 on goal) and made a game-high 15 saves for the Cavaliers.
“I think Rachel (Vander Kolk) made some saves,” said Virginia women’s lacrosse head coach Julie Myers. “Rachel did do a nice job, the problem is she shouldn’t be under that kind of heat and that kind of fire so consistently. The nice thing is we have always known we have had a steady goalkeeper and we do have great players, I don’t think today was a great effort on our part. Notre Dame is a very good team and I think we are more competitive than what we just displayed. We are disappointed in the outcome.”
Virginia owned an early 2-1 lead after goals from Lilly DiNardo (Salisbury, Md.) and Mary Alati.(Glen Ridge, N.J.). Alati’s capped the run at 17:25 in the first half. The Irish used a 7-1 run to close out the half, taking an 8-3 lead into the intermission.
Notre Dame started the second half as they finished the first, scoring quickly. The Irish scored 12 seconds into the second half and again with 23:17 left in the game to cap a 6-0 Notre Dame run that started with 8:43 left in the first half.
Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) broke through for UVA with an unassisted goal with 19:38 left in the game. It marked Virginia’s final goal. Notre Dame concluded the game with a 6-0 run to secure the ACC victory.
Notre Dame won the battle of shots (43-12), draw controls (12-10), ground balls (29-20) and caused turnovers (20-12). Virginia had more saves (15-6) and more turnovers (29-21)
Cortney Fortunato led Notre Dame with four goals, while Kiera McMullan added two goals and four assists.
Virginia returns to action on Wednesday (March 23) when James Madison comes to Klöckner Stadium. First draw is slated for 7 p.m.