Virginia Hosts No. 10 Notre Dame in ACC Home Opener

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March 17, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia women’s lacrosse team (3-4, 0-2 ACC) hosts No. 10 Notre Dame (8-3, 2-0 ACC) in its ACC home opener on Saturday (March 18) at noon at Klöckner Stadium.

The game will be streamed live on the ACC Network Extra and can be viewed through ESPN3 or the WatchESPN app. Links for the stream, as well as live stats, are available on Virginiasports.com.

Virginia is playing its second straight home game after being on the road for three-straight to begin March. The Cavaliers defeated Loyola on Wednesday, 11-7, as senior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) scored five goals to power the UVA offense. The Cavaliers rank second in the ACC in draw controls (15.33/game) and are third in caused turnovers (10.33/game).

Reese now has four hat tricks on the season and leads the way with 23 points on 19 goals and four assists. Sophomore Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) has come on strong as an all-around midfielder this season. Jackson has 21 points (13 goals, eight assists), while leading UVA with 20 ground balls and 33 draw controls.

Reese, Jackson and freshman Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) have scored a goal in every game this season. Mueller is second on the team with 17 goals. Sophomore Kaitlin Luzik (Alexandria, Va.) leads the way on the defensive end with 12 caused turnovers, while adding 17 draws and 15 grounds balls.

It’s the 5th all-time meeting between UVA and Notre Dame. Virginia trails Notre Dame, 3-1, in the series. Since winning the first meeting between the two teams in 2014, Virginia has lost the last three times the teams have faced each other. Last season, the Cavaliers kept the game competitive early, before Notre Dame went on a 12-1 run to win by a final score of 16-4. Virginia’s last win over Notre Dame came on April 5, 2014 when the Cavaliers won 13-8 in South Bend, Ind.

Notre Dame had won eight-straight games until dropping its last two contests. The Irish most recently fell to No. 15 Towson, 14-11, on Wednesday. Notre Dame leads the league in caused turnovers (12.00/game), is second in ground balls (21.30/game) and third in goals scored (14.90/game). Courtney Fortunato leads ND with 45 points, scoring 33 goals with 12 assists. Fortunato ranks fifth in the ACC with 3.30 goals per game. Savannah Buchanan leads the Irish with 18 caused turnovers and 27 draw controls. Goalkeeper Samantha Giacolone is averaging 7.60 saves per game.

Virginia travels to Harrisonburg, Va. to face in-state foe James Madison on Wednesday, March 22 before continuing ACC play at home with No. 16 Duke Saturday, March 25 at Klöckner Stadium.