The young Virginia women's lacrosse team experienced its first setback of the season, dropping its season opener against Loyola (Md.)15-11 at University Hall Turf Field Saturday.
The Cavaliers got off to a fast start in the contest, scoring their first goal of the season within the first minute to go up 1-0 against the Greyhounds. During the next 12 minutes, Virginia outplayed its opponents offensively, netting four goals compared to Loyola's two. Senior midfielder Caity Whiteley converted on three shots during this stretch, including a strong drive from behind the net, to put the Cavaliers up 5-2 by the 17:01 mark.
This was the last time Virginia found the back of the net in the first half, however. Before the end of the first period, the Greyhounds scored five unanswered goals to take a 7-5 lead at halftime, despite the Cavaliers 9-4 draw control advantage.
Loyola's momentum continued after the intermission. Senior midfielder Emily Gibson registered her second goal of the game six minutes into the second period, and junior midfielder Grace Gavin earned a hat-trick during the 19th minute. Freshman attacker Charlie Finnigan seemed to reignite the Cavaliers with a goal off the right side of the cage just more than a minute later, ending the nearly 30-minute scoreless stretch for Virginia's offense.
The Cavaliers continued to struggle to put points on the board throughout the rest of the second period, however, against the talented left-handed Loyola goalkeeper, sophomore Kerry Stoothoff, who ended the game with a career-high 15 saves. Whiteley, sophomore midfielder Josie Owen and sophomore midfielder Julie Gardner each added a goal for the Cavaliers during the last two minutes of the game, but it was too late for Virginia to pull through.
Despite the team loss, senior midfielder Brittany Kalkstein earned a personal victory by becoming the all-time school leader in career draw controls. The team captain captured the record by posting a career-high nine draw controls in the loss, as well as a goal and two assists on the day.
"It's pretty exciting," Kalkstein said. "It's definitely something that I work on, but it's kind of hard to take the good with the bad. I'd prefer to have that win over that record. It's exciting, but obviously there's a bigger picture out there."
With Saturday's loss, the Cavaliers begin their season 0-1 for the first team in seven seasons and end their 10-game winning streak for the month of February.
Virginia coach Julie Myers stressed, though, that this was only the beginning of the season for the relatively young squad that is still trying to cope with the departure of several star players who graduated last spring.
"It didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but I think we have some things to draw on," Myers said. "We have lots of kids in the starting lineup and on the field for the first time since getting to college, so I think this is a beginning step for us, and we'll get better every outing. Right now, we need a little bit more practice and a little bit more time and lots of games to keep trying and test ourselves."
One such newcomer is freshman goalkeeper Kim Kolarik, who notched seven saves during her first career start for the Cavaliers. The rookie goalkeeper looks to see significant time this season between the posts.
"It was really exciting," Kolarik said of her first start on Saturday. "[I was] a little nervous until I got into goal, and then it was just another game. I thought it was a good stepping stone for us. We now know what we need to work on for the next game and what we did well. Overall, we did well for the first game, but we still have a lot to work on."
The Cavaliers will look for their first win of the season Wednesday against in-state rival Richmond at home at 7 p.m.
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