As does any college sports program, the Virginia women's lacrosse team lost a few key players from last year's national championship runner-up squad. At the same time, however, the Cavaliers can expect veteran players to step up into leadership roles and new players to contribute toward the accomplishment of the team's goals. All the ingredients to make another run through the ACC and NCAA tournaments could be at hand.
The first ingredient is the leadership and vision provided by coach Julie Myers, who seems to have a recipe for success. In each of her 12 years as head coach at Virginia, Myers has taken her team to the NCAA Tournament, collecting four ACC championships along the way -- including three in the past four years. Additionally, she has led her Virginia squad to six NCAA tournament runner-up finishes and one national title in 2004.
Strong on-field leadership from the team's elected captains supplies a second key factor for the Cavs. Senior attacker Megan O'Malley returns to help run the offense, and senior defender Claire Bordley will help bring together a promising defense.
"It means a lot [to be elected captain], as far as the team looking up to me," O'Malley said. "I think [being a captain is] a welcome challenge and something that I'm excited for. It's just a matter of working hard every day and trying to set a good example on and off the field."
Setting an example for the younger players seems to be a priority for the captains.
"Obviously being a captain and just being a senior in general, there is a lot of added responsibility on and off the field," Bordley said. "The talent is there; it's just keeping the focus and being an example for our teammates so they'll want to work hard with us."
According to senior goalkeeper Kendall McBreaty, Virginia will have leaders all over the field.
"We lost two of our defenders [from last year], but we have all of our older girls coming back and a couple of first-years that are stepping up big," McBreaty said. "We are strong, just as strong as last year."
As formidable as the defense will be with McBreaty's presence in goal, the offense appears ready to offer just as much. O'Malley noted the offense is in good shape.
"I think we look awesome," O'Malley said. "We have a lot of weapons back."
Virginia returns two top scorers from last year in junior midfielders Blair Weymouth and Ashley McCulloch. Each has not just goal-scoring on her mind but also keeping the team together and focused.
My goals are "calming everyone down, running our plays and making sure we stick to them," McCulloch said.
This is a team that does not just look to its captains for leadership; the Cavaliers expect everyone to step up to the challenge.
"One thing our team does is we count on everyone to be the leader," Myers said. "We're only as good as everyone is willing to be. [The captains will] lead the charge, but certainly right next to them is going to be the whole team."
Strong contributions from new players will also add to the Cavaliers' efforts. Freshmen defender Liz Downs and midfielder Molly Millard are going to be getting good minutes and look "solid," according to Myers. Along with talented freshmen, Virginia also welcomes junior transfer Jenny Hauser, who brings two years of college experience to the Cavaliers' offensive attack.
With all of these weapons, the team is ready to begin what the Cavaliers hope will be another great season.
"I think we've got all the pieces in place," Myers said.
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