No. 15 Virginia Returns to ACC Play at Boston College

Story Links

March 31, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 15 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (7-4, 2-2 ACC) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play at Boston College (9-4, 1-3 ACC) on Saturday, April 1 at 1 p.m. at the Newton Campus Lacrosse & Soccer Field in Newton, Mass.

The game will be streamed live on 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.

UVA is coming off a 15-6 win over Oregon on Wednesday night. Sophomore Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.) scored a career-high five goals to lead the Cavaliers. After falling behind 3-0, Virginia slowly cut into Oregon’s lead and eventually tied the game at four with back-to-back goals by Shoemaker with 11 minutes to play in the first. The Cavaliers had a 5-4 lead at the half and then outscored the Ducks 10-2 in the second half to secure the victory.

Virginia is currently on a five-game win streak after starting the season 2-4. The Cavaliers have held their opponents to single digit goals in each of those five games, outscoring them 68-29. Senior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) has 18 goals, with at least a hat trick in each game. Junior goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk (Severna Park, Md.) is boasting a 5.80 goals against averaging, with 42 saves in that span. The UVA defense has held teams to fewer than 22 shots in each of the five games.

Virginia leads Boston College 13-2 in a series that dates back to 1989. The Cavaliers are 9-0 at home, but 2-2 in games played at BC. UVA has won three-straight in the series, including a 15-14 victory last season. The last five meetings between the two schools have been decided by three goals or less. BC’s last win against UVA came on March 30, 2013. The unranked Eagles topped No. 9 UVA 10-7 at BC.

BC has won three of its last four games, most recently defeating Yale 19-12 on Wednesday. The Eagles are second in the league in assists (7.31), points per game (2.19), scoring offense (14.62) and draw controls per game (15.31). Sam Apuzzo tops the ACC and is second in the nation with 65 points (38 goals, 27 assists) this season. Kate Weeks is the leading goal-scorer with 48, and ranks fifth nationally with 58 points.

Following Saturday’s contest, UVA will be back at home to host No. 1 Maryland on Wednesday, April 5 at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. The game will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.