In this weekend's ACC women's lacrosse tournament, the third seeded Virginia squad advanced to the finals with a rain-soaked win over Duke in its semifinal game Friday but came up short against top seeded Maryland, losing in the championship game Sunday, 11-6.
The rain came down steadily Friday afternoon as Virginia squared off against the No. 3 Blue Devils for a chance to advance to the title match. In the end, Virginia held on for a 12-9 victory against Duke and earned a rematch against No. 2 Maryland on Sunday. Sophomore attackers Amy Appelt and Cary Chasney led the Cavaliers with four and three goals, respectively, against Duke.
From the opening draw, No. 4 Virginia came out with incredible intensity. Within the first 10 minutes, the Cavaliers had jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Duke, winning almost every draw in the first half and causing 16 turnovers on the day.
Virginia caught the Blue Devils off guard by working seamlessly as a unit to move the ball up field and take a 6-2 lead at half.
Duke made a valiant effort to tie the game, but to no avail, as Virginia avenged its loss with a 12-9 win.
The weather was much smoother Sunday. The Cavalier offense, however, failed to follow suit. The Virginia fast break looked strong from the start but it was Terrapin attacker Annie Collins who scored the first goal 5:24 into the game. Virginia retaliated quickly with a score by Appelt, but Maryland ran in for two more goals within the next two minutes to gain a 3-1 edge.
Eventual tournament Most Valuable Player Alexis Venechanos stood in Virginia's way each time they tried to come back. The Terrapin goalie led a defensive effort that held the host to just one goal in the first half.
"At 3-1 I know we had opportunities to score," Maryland coach Cindy Timchal said. "Coming up with those big saves was huge, and it kept that gap in the first half."
Maryland suffered a 10-minute scoring drought after its third goal but in that stretch Venechanos blocked a free position attempt by senior midfielder Lauren Aumiller. Maryland attacker Kristie Leggio connected on an assist from midfielder Sonia Judd with just over 12 minutes left in the half, and her teammates added two goals in the next couple of minutes. The Terrapins finally ended their 6-0 run when midfielder Acacia Walker found Coppedge for the score with 1:08 left before halftime, giving Maryland a 7-1 edge.
"Overall, we got into a lull in our attack and we stayed in it throughout the game," Aumiller said of Virginia's first-half effort.
Early in the second half the Cavaliers appeared to be making a comeback, with junior midfielder Morgan Thalenburg connecting on a pass from Aumiller in the opening minutes. Chasney cut the lead to four and almost found the net again, but the pressure of the Venechanos-led defense was too much and Virginia soon found itself clueless on offense.
"Offensively we wanted to push the fast break. What ended up happening was we got a little sticky with our ball movement and we got really stagnant with our body movement, a bad combination," Myers said.
Virginia could not get closer to 8-4 and Maryland put together a 3-0 run to jump to a seven-point lead with 7:24 to play. Aumiller's final two goals were too late to matter and Maryland claimed its 11th ACC Championship.
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