With the regular season complete, the Virginia women’s lacrosse team will begin its quest for its fourth consecutive ACC crown and its fifth in six years. The Cavaliers are coming off a heartbreaking 11-10 loss to top-ranked Northwestern in the tightest game the Wildcats saw all season. Despite the loss, the game gave the Cavaliers some momentum heading into the postseason.
“These one-goal losses are hurting,” Virginia coach Julie Myers said. “We have to make sure that we are the happy team in the end. Coming close is great, but it is not good enough right now.”
Though they are highly-ranked, the No. 10 Cavaliers (10-6, 2-3 ACC) have, by many standards, struggled this season compared to recent years. Their six losses are the most the squad has suffered during the regular season since 1995. The postseason gives the Cavaliers a chance to bounce back.
The past three years, the Cavaliers have absolutely dominated the ACC Tournament, defeating their opponents by a combined score of 82-56 during their marches to conference championships.
This year, the Cavaliers already have three losses against ACC teams, however, a number that translated to a disappointing fourth-place finish in the six-team conference. They have shown, though, that they can come back and defeat a team in the postseason that had beaten them in the regular season. In 2006 and 2007, the Cavaliers lost to North Carolina during the regular season but defeated the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament. Virginia will look to exact a similar revenge against opponents this weekend.
Virginia’s first game in the ACC Tournament will come against Virginia Tech (7-9, 1-4 ACC), which the Cavaliers soundly defeated 19-3 earlier this year. Today is the first time these in-state rivals will face one another in the ACC Tournament. The Cavaliers have a perfect 13-0 all-time, regular-season record against the Hokies and are favored to extend their winning streak against Virginia Tech.
The Cavaliers dominated the earlier matchup between the two teams. Senior midfielder Ashley McCulloch recorded a career-high eight points and senior midfielder Blair Weymouth contributed five points on three goals and two assists. Nine Cavaliers found the back of the net en route to their second highest-scoring game of the season.
Coming into today’s outing against the Cavaliers, the Hokies have lost two straight games. They also have, however, made great strides all season.
“They are a much-improved team,” Myers said. “A lot of younger kids are getting a lot better and not making as many mistakes and doing a better job going to goal. We will have our hands full.”
Senior attack Rachel Culp, who is among the nation’s top offensive players, leads the Hokies with 53 goals and 15 assists. Sophomore attack Allie Emala is another key contributor, totaling 34 goals and matching Cavalier junior midfielder Brittany Kalkstein’s impressive number of 58 draw controls this season. This total puts the pair in a tie for eighth in the country. Senior goalkeeper Kari Morrison anchors the Hokie defense between the pipes; Morrison had 13 saves against the Cavaliers in their first meeting and is currently fourth in the country in saves per game.
If the Cavaliers can get by the Hokie squad today, they will take on No. 1-seeded Maryland (16-0, 5-0 ACC) in the semifinals Friday. Should the Cavaliers upset the Terrapins, they will play in the finals Sunday.
“I want to come up with four [ACC titles] in a row,” Weymouth said. “We have Virginia Tech first, and they are out to get us, so we need to focus our attention on them. All of the ACC teams are huge competitors, so I think we should be all set and good to go.”
Other matchups in the ACC Tournament include Duke (11-4, 3-2 ACC) against Boston College (9-7, 0-5 ACC); the winner of that game will take on No. 2-seed North Carolina (13-3, 4-1 ACC) to fill the other spot in the tournament finals.
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