Jackson and Shoemaker Lead No. 15 Virginia Past Navy
April 12, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 15 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (8-7) picked up a 16-13 win over Navy (9-5) on Wednesday night at KlÃÆ’Æ‘¶ckner Stadium as sophomores Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) and Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.) combined for 11 goals.
Virginia jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first half with four of those goals by Shoemaker. Jackson scored four of the first five goals to open the second half and put UVA ahead 13-6. Navy scored seven of the last 10 goals, but UVA held on for the win.
“It was a huge game for us, we knew Navy coming to town was going to be a tough challenge and no matter what the score was they were never going to back down,” head coach Julie Myers said. “I think Navy did a great job of making this a tough game for us. They did a great job on draw controls and answering back after we had a couple of long runs, so give them a lot of credit. It was a gut check and an important game for us to win.”
Jackson finished with a career-high six goals and Shoemaker matched her career-high with five. Senior Kelly Reese (Severna Park, Md.) added two goals and three players finished with one for UVA. Morgan Young led Navy with four goals.
After Navy scored the opening goal, Virginia scored three consecutive goals to go ahead 3-1 with 21:25 to play in the first half. Reese scored the first Cavalier goal with a put-back goal after picking up a ground ball in front of the net. Shoemaker then scored two-straight to complete the UVA run. Navy countered with back-to-back goals to tie the game at 3-3 with 19:44 left in the first.
Shoemaker notched a hat trick with her third goal at the 14:37 mark, but the Midshipmen tied it right back. The Cavaliers then used a 5-0 to take a 9-4 lead. Senior Posey Valis (Baltimore, Md.) sparked the run with the assist from Jackson. Jackson hit her first goal of the night as UVA led 6-4. Virginia then scored three goals in two minutes, with freshman Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.), Shoemaker and Jackson each scoring to cap off the run. Navy scored a goal with 0.01 second left on the clock to make it 9-5 at the half.
A flurry of four goals by Jackson to open the second half put UVA in the lead, 13-6, with 21:06 to play. Navy then scored four-straight to cut it to 13-10 with 13:03 remaining. The Cavaliers halted the run with a goal by Reese at the 12:46 mark. Navy scored again, but Shoemaker hit her fifth of the game then Dyson scored as UVA took a 16-11 lead with 4:55 to play. The Midshipmen scored two-straight to cut it to 16-13 with 1:24 remaining. Junior goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk picked up her 12th save of the night with nine seconds remaining as UVA held on.
Virginia outshot Navy, 42-30, and won the battle of groundballs, 21-18. Navy had the edge in draw controls, 19-11. UVA finished with 12 saves to 10 for the Midshipmen. Both teams had 15 turnovers.
Virginia will remain at home as it hosts Louisville in ACC play on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kl̮ծԦckner Stadium.