Something unusual happened last night at the Virginia women's lacrosse game. It wasn't that junior attacker Amy Appelt scored a hat trick -- she's done that in eight consecutive contests, adding to the school record she already owns. And it wasn't even that the backup goalkeeper, sophomore Ginger Miles, saw action.
With 24 minutes remaining in the game, the No. 4 Cavaliers (6-2) took a 14-4 lead over UMBC (0-7) that enacted a "mercy rule," leaving the clock running, regardless of a score or other stoppage of play, until the two minute marker. In the final 24 minutes, the Virginia offense continued to mount the lead, crushing the UMBC Retrievers, 19-5.
After playing some of the top teams in women's college lacrosse over the past two weeks, including Maryland, Princeton and North Carolina, the contest against UMBC may not have seemed like something for the Cavaliers to get hyped up about. But although UMBC isn't a powerhouse or an ACC competitor, Virginia still maintained its focus of coming out strong and controlling the game at home.
"I don't think it was any more difficult for us to get motivated [against UMBC]," Appelt said. "As a team, we're always excited to play, especially three games in a week. It's just a great opportunity to get better."
The Cavaliers came out striking early and built a 3-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. The lead grew to 11-1 on a Kate Connors goal with 14:02 remaining, enacting the mercy rule for the remainder of the first half, which Virginia finished on top, 13-2.
With the extensive lead, several young Cavaliers who rarely see action got the chance to play significant minutes. Virginia coach Julie Myers articulated the impact of these players receiving minutes.
"We started strong," Myers said. "And it really gave us a chance to try a bunch of different people and give everyone some game experience, which is really important at this point in the season."
The Cavaliers played a staggering team defense. Attackers and midfielders made considerable contributions to the defensive effort, preventing the Retrievers from making it past midfield for most of the game.
"Basically [the attack's mentality] on defense is just to help the defensive players out by stopping the ball before it gets to them," Appelt said. "As attackers, it's our job to slow the ball down and help the whole team defensively."
The Retrievers cut the lead to 13-4 four minutes into the second half, but Virginia responded with Appelt's third goal of the game two minutes later and only allowed one more UMBC goal in the contest.
With the blowout, the Cavaliers also got the chance to fix problem areas in preparation for the season's concluding games.
"Now we have a good team-wide understanding of where we are," Myers said. "And we recognize the things that we really need to emphasize in practice coming up."
Virginia will have only one day to sharpen their play in practice. They take the field next to host William & Mary tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Read More
No. 7 women’s tennis’s season comes to frustrating end in NCAA Round of 16
By Gracie Genereux | 36 minutes agoTennessee blitzed Virginia on its home court.
Virginia baseball earns series win after Teel walks off Miami
By David Sewall | 2 hours agoVirginia needed a win, and got one in exciting fashion.
No. 5 seed women’s lacrosse drubs LIU in NCAA first round
By Peter Kratz | 6 hours agoVirginia got the better of LIU in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
