The Virginia women’s lacrosse team could not avenge a last-second loss to Princeton last year as the Tigers emerged victorious again against the Cavaliers Saturday afternoon, winning 8-7.
The No. 7 Cavaliers (6-3, 1-2 ACC) snapped their four-game streak of not scoring first, as junior attack Whitaker Hagerman scored the first of two goals off a spin move 48 seconds into the game. But No. 9 Princeton (5-1) dominated the first half, as senior midfielder Holly McGarvie tallied three goals, two assists and three winning draw controls. It was not until the last six minutes of the half that Virginia senior midfielder Blair Weymouth slowed down the Princeton attack with two goals to close the deficit to a manageable 6-4.
After the break, Virginia, no stranger this season to being down at halftime, came out of the locker room firing. Junior midfielder Brittany Kalkstein knotted the game at six within 13 seconds at the beginning of the second half. The Tigers then responded with two goals to take an 8-6 lead with 24 minutes to go. For the next 14 minutes, the Cavaliers had several opportunities to find the back of the net; they were unsuccessful, however, as several shots hit the pipes.
“In the second half, they were knocking down our feeds, so I think they did a much better job playing that dump in the middle,” Virginia coach Julie Myers said. “Clearly in the first half there [were] great opportunities; we just didn’t score often enough on them.”
Senior midfielder Ashley McCulloch broke the scoring drought with 10 minutes left in the game to bring the Cavaliers within one, but Virginia failed to score again.
“We had the opportunities, we had the possessions, we had the looks, we had the right kids with the ball,” Myers said. ”We just didn’t seal it with a goal. It just wasn’t our day today to win this game.”
Princeton sophomore goalkeeper Erin Tochihara stymied the Cavalier attack all afternoon, recording seven saves. Weymouth’s two goals and an assist — en route to recording her 50th career multiple-goal game — and McCulloch’s one goal and two assists helped the Virginia offense, but the squad converted on seven of its 20 shots, its lowest total of the season.
“I think we were just forcing it a little too much,” Weymouth said. “We didn’t let the plays work out as well as we could have. We forced it in and a lot of the time the Princeton sticks just knocked it down, and then we were one and done.”
Virginia now faces a quick turnaround, as it heads down Interstate 64 to take on No. 16 James Madison Tuesday night.
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