“If I were them I would be scared because we are going to be fired up to beat them.”
Senior defender Jen Holden is confident going into this weekend’s game against the No. 9 North Carolina women’s lacrosse team.
The No. 4 Cavaliers (5-1, 1-1 ACC) are coming off a weekend in which they were outplayed by No. 3 Maryland last Friday and barely escaped with a win against Penn State, winning in overtime Sunday. Holden said she believes Virginia needs to get back to basics if it wants to defeat North Carolina (4-2) Saturday. The Tar Heels have beaten the Cavaliers in three of the last four meetings between the two teams, with their most recent win against Virginia coming in the form of an 11-7 upset in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“It was a huge upset, so revenge will be on our mind,” Holden said. “We know them really well; they have a lot of returning players.”
North Carolina’s two losses this season have both come against top-10 opponents Northwestern and Pennsylvania. The Tar Heels are not short on talent; senior defender Amber Falcone was named to the U.S. Training Team for the 2009 World Cup and sophomore attacker Cory Donohoe is tied for the team lead in goals with 12. Donohoe also was one of two freshmen named to the All-ACC team last season, and Womenslax.com named her Player of the Week earlier this year for her four-goal performance against then-No. 12 Vanderbilt.
The Cavaliers counter with their own talent on the offensive side of the field, with senior midfielders Blair Weymouth and Ashley McCulloch and senior attacker Jenny Hauser leading the charge. Weymouth leads the Cavaliers with 19 goals and is closely followed by McCulloch with 15 and Hauser with 14. McCulloch also has accumulated 15 assists this season, leading the team and currently good enough for fifth in the country.
North Carolina will be playing its first ACC game of the season; the Cavaliers will be playing their third after beating Virginia Teach in the season-opener and losing to Maryland last Friday. Though the Cavaliers boast four All-Americans, Virginia coach Julie Myers said she believes the Tar Heels most likely will not be intimidated.
“Their swagger is their biggest strength,” Myers said. “Everyone of those players feels like they are the greatest, fastest, fittest athlete out there with the ability to shoot from anywhere. They are going to come after us; they feel like they are better than Virginia.”
Despite knocking off Syracuse two weeks ago, the Cavaliers’ performances this past weekend against Maryland and Penn State indicate that the team has room for improvement. The Cavaliers must return to playing solid defense and efficient offense to get back on track and emerge victorious against the Tar Heels.
“We need to make sure that we limit their shots and make sure that our goal keepers are ready for long wide shots, which they traditionally take,” Myers said. “On the offensive end, we need to be patient; we need to get the ball moving again.”
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