Returning to play after a week off, the No. 5 Virginia women's lacrosse team will face off with the George Mason Patriots in their final regular season home game Wednesday.
The Patriots will attempt to pull out their first-ever win against the Cavaliers in the teams' short history together.
The Cavaliers (11-2, 3-1) are riding the strength of a five-game win streak, including their 15-8 victory over Old Dominion last Wednesday, prior to the week off. Virginia will also look to continue their dominance at home where they are 5-1 on the season, with their only loss coming at the hands of North Carolina.
The Patriots offense will have to come out strong against Virginia goalkeeper Ginger Miles. Miles, with 85 saves on the season, has been especially stingy in the goal in recent games. She will need to keep up the good work against a Patriot offense that has only been held below ten goals twice this season. This attack includes Patriots' leading scorer Laura King, who has 33 goals this season and has been hot of late.
In George Mason's recent win over Old Dominion, King tallied a career-high six goals.
Outside of Miles, the young Cavalier defense has room for improvement and will need to step up against the Patriots.
"Our defense needs to be stingier and make sure that our slides are there, our double teams are strong, and Ginger's in a position to make some saves," coach Julie Myers said.
Led by top scorers Tyler Leachman and Blair Weymouth, the Cavalier offense will have to work hard against tough George Mason goalkeeper Roxie Alsruhe. The freshman allows on average 11.35 goals per game and has 78 saves on the season.
"They always have a good goalkeeper," Myers said. "We're going to need to make sure that we can fast break on them but then also hold the ball a little bit."
The Cavaliers used their week off from competition to address areas that needed improvement before they head into the final stretch of the season.
"We still need to finish off strong," sophomore Claire Bordley said. "Working on skills, and getting extra shooting in and refining all the things we can [do] better -- whether it's better transitioning with cuts in the midfield or finishing shots. Everyone has a lot of improvement to make and I think we definitely realize that."
Last year's game, held in Fairfax, saw the Cavaliers pull out a tight 12-7 victory. Virginia is 5-0 all-time against the Patriots, but they cannot afford to look past them, either.
"They're good," Myers said. "They're going to be very scrappy -- a couple of steps faster than Old Dominion. They come here with nothing to lose, and they're very scrappy, very aggressive."
With the ACC Tournament two weeks away, Virginia has only two games left -- against Virginia Tech and Georgetown -- to fill in the gaps in their game before attempting a run at the NCAA Championship.
"We need to make sure these opportunities are chances for us to improve our game," Myers said.
Face-off for tonight's game at Klöckner is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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