No. 6 Virginia Falls to No. 19 Penn State
April 6, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 6 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (8-5) fell 22-13 to No. 19 Penn State (9-4) on Friday on Senior Night at Klöckner Stadium.
Virginia scored the first two goals of the game, but Penn State took the lead on a 4-0 run. Virginia cut it to one, but the Nittany Lions scored six straight to lead 11-4. The Cavaliers trailed 13-6 at the half. UVA scored first out of the break but Penn State outscored the Cavaliers 9-7 in the second half to take the win.
Senior Kasey Behr (Northport, N.Y.) led the Cavaliers with five points on three goals and two assists. Junior Avery Shoemaker (Wyndmoor, Pa.) had a team-high four goals and sophomore Sammy Mueller (Pelham, N.Y.) added three goals.
Junior Maggie Jackson (Alexandria, Va.) led with 10 draw controls, while Mueller had four ground balls and senior Ana Hagerup (Washington, D.C.) had three.
Virginia was on the board first at 29:47 when Shoemaker scored on the assist from Behr. Mueller followed with a goal just 53 seconds later to give UVA the 2-0 advantage. Penn State would counter with a 4-0 run to lead 4-2 at 22:07. Behr scored on the assist from Jackson to cut it to 4-3.
After another goal for the Lions, UVA was within one again when senior Lilly DiNardo (Salisbury, Md.) scored a goal. Penn State would score six straight to lead 11-4 with 6:34 to go in the first half. Mueller scored two more goals but each time Penn State responded to lead 13-6 at the break.
Shoemaker started the scoring again, finding the net with 29:26 on the clock. Jackson then converted a free position shot after another goal by the Nittany Lions as UVA was down 14-8 with 26:59 remaining. Penn State used a 3-0 run to stretch its lead to 17-8. Sophomore Megan Plain (Pittsford, N.Y.) scored with the assist from Jackson to halt the run. Two more goals for Penn State put UVA down 19-9.
Behr answered with a free position goal to cut it back to nine. Penn State scored two goals before Behr found space for a goal and Shoemaker notched her third of the game. Shoemaker scored her fourth goal in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Virginia led Penn State 36-34 in shots and 23-14 in draw controls. Both teams finished with 16 ground balls. Penn State had six saves to five for UVA and had six free position goals to four. UVA committed 18 turnovers to 14 for Penn State.
The Cavaliers will be on the road for two games next week. UVA is at Navy on Wednesday, April 11 and returns to ACC play at Louisville on Saturday, April 14.