The Virginia women's lacrosse redeemed its tough conference loss against Maryland March 4 by defeating another of the four ACC programs in the national top 10, North Carolina. In their most dominating performance of the season, the No. 2 Cavaliers controlled possession for much of the game against the No. 7 Tar Heels.
North Carolina senior attacker Julia Ryan opened the Tar Heel attack with a goal 1:09 into the contest. Less than a minute later, fifth-year senior attacker Kaitlin Swagart put in the tying goal, scoring the first of her three. Six minutes later, sophomore Kaitlin Duff scored her only goal, gaining a lead that Virginia never relinquished. After the Tar Heels' initial score, Virginia (6-1, 2-1 ACC) went on an 8-0 run to end the first half, leading North Carolina 19-7 in shots.
North Carolina's high-powered attack had an uncharacteristic first half according to Virginia coach Julie Myers, and Virginia knew what to expect coming out of halftime.
"We always go into halftime thinking the score is 0-0 and try to keep the momentum going from the first half," senior goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty said. "We know they hadn't shot much in the first half, and UNC is a shooting team. We knew they were going to come out shooting."
North Carolina (6-2, 0-1 ACC) began the second half, 2:44 in, with a goal from freshman attacker Corey Donohoe, the team's leading scorer. At that point, McBrearty took over, keeping the Tar Heels from finding momentum. After Carolina scored that first goal of the half, she put together a string of big saves, with 11 saves for the game, including 10 in the second half.
Junior attacker Blair Weymouth then capitalized on Virginia's momentum produced by the defense, scoring her third of four goals on the day. She also added three assists, leading all scorers with 7 points. A two-time All-American, Weymouth produced big offensive numbers despite battling a tough bone bruise on her left ankle.
Despite three more goals in the half for North Carolina, the Tar Heels could never mount enough momentum against the Cavaliers for a comeback because of a strong defensive performance.
"They were all over it," said McBrearty of the defense in front of her. "We always felt like we were a step ahead of them. Our defense covered all the bases."
Virginia added seven more second half goals, bringing the final tally to 16-5 in its favor.
"I think they did a great job. In warm-ups you can kind of sense the emotion," Myers said of her players. "When [freshman midfielder] Molly Millard sang the national anthem, you could tell our team was just excited. We were excited to be back home and we were feeling good."
Despite North Carolina's quick goal to open the game, Myers said, the Cavaliers held together and fought back.
Swagart, Duff and Weymouth were not the only players to contribute on the offensive end of the field for Virginia. Junior attacker Jenny Hauser also added three goals, while junior midfielder Ashley McCulloch put in two goals and had two assists. Senior captain and attacker Megan O'Malley contributed two goals and an assist, while sophomore midfielder Brittany Kalkstein scored one and assisted on one.
After losing to Maryland in its last ACC matchup, Virginia was happy to get back on the right track in the conference.
"To come back out here, with home-field advantage, is definitely a nice ACC win," said Weymouth. "As well as we played today, it's definitely a nice confidence booster going into the rest of the season"
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