The No. 7 Virginia women's lacrosse team started off relatively slowly on offense, but used a run of seven unanswered goals during the second part of the first half and beginning of the second half yesterday to defeat No. 19 George Mason, 10-5.
The Patriots (4-6) scored the game's first goal just over one minute into the contest on a score by sophomore attacker Sarah Bryant. The Cavaliers (11-3) responded, as senior attacker Morgan Thalenberg scored her first of four goals on the day to tie the score 1-1.
Scoring went back and forth between the teams over the next six minutes, with Bryant and Thalenberg each contributing additional scores.
"I thought Mason started strong," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "They put the pressure on us, and even though we won by five it was never really that comfortable."
With Virginia down 3-2 midway through the first half, junior attacker Ashleigh Haas came off the bench to score two goals for the Cavaliers, giving the team its first lead of the contest, 4-3.
Haas's tallies sparked the Cavalier offense, which concluded the first half on a 4-0 run and extended its streak of unanswered goals to seven early in the second half.
"I think Ashleigh Haas just has the ability to light a fire," Myers said. "Everyone gets really excited when a bench player comes in and contributes, and she did it with such authority. She went hard to goal and she nailed her couple of shots."
Haas's presence on the field not only ignited the offense but also motivated the defense. Following Haas's first goal, the Cavalier defense held the Patriots off the scoreboard for the next 31:38, enabling the attack to build a 9-3 lead.
"We knew we would eventually turn the momentum in our favor, and [the Haas goals] helped us do that," senior defender Erin Sweeney said. "They turned the game around and pushed us to play harder. Once we had them shut out for that period of time, it motivated us to keep them off the board."
The Virginia defense practiced a new pattern against the Patriots in preparation for this weekend's contest against Loyola.
"We were playing a different type of defense today, really playing aggressively behind" the ball, Myers said. "I think our defenders did a nice job of knocking a lot passes down."
The Cavalier defense was led by junior Elizabeth Pinney with five caused turnovers and five ground balls, junior Molly Urlock with four caused turnovers and six ground balls, and sophomore Nikki Lieb with seven ground balls.
Senior goalkeeper Andrea Pfeiffer stood solid in the goal for Virginia, stopping nine shots and earning praise from her teammates.
"Pfeiffer came up big today," Sweeney said. "She made a lot of big saves for us at crucial moments in the game."
On offense, Thalenberg's four goals led the way for the Cavaliers. Junior attacker Amy Appelt contributed two goals and two assists, and sophomore attacker Tyler Leachman added two goals and one assist for Virginia.
The Cavaliers next take the field Saturday against the No. 3 (insidelacrosse.com) Greyhounds looking for their second win of the season versus top-five competition.
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