The No. 12 Virginia women's lacrosse team upset No. 6 Syracuse 14-13 this past Saturday at University Hall Turf Field. With the win, the squad defeated the Orange for a sixth season in a row and handed Syracuse its first loss of the season.
The Orange (2-1) struck first, with senior attacker Halley Quillinan netting her first of four goals off the left side of the cage just one minute into the game. Senior midfielder Brittany Kalkstein tied the game up three minutes later with a quick straightaway shot past Syracuse junior goalkeeper Liz Hogan. Syracuse went on to add two unanswered goals off the sticks of freshman attacker Michelle Tumolo and junior attacker Tee Ladouceur.
But as was often be the case during this back-and-forth scoring match, Syracuse did not cling to the lead for very long. Virginia tallied two goals of its own to tie the score at three apiece, as Kalkstein scored again and sophomore midfielder Julie Gardner scored off a pass from freshman attacker Charlie Finnigan. At the 17:23 mark, senior midfielder Christina Dove put Syracuse ahead with a goal off the right side of the net, increasing her scoring streak to 43 consecutive games. The teams continued to trade goals until the Cavaliers pulled away with four goals heading into halftime to take the lead 6-8.
Virginia increased its lead with two more goals following the intermission, pushing the Orange to call timeout less than five minutes into the second period. Syracuse quickly responded coming out of the timeout by winning the subsequent draw control and passing the ball up the field to Dove for her second score of the game. The team went on to tie the game at 10. The Orange's offensive resurgence prompted Virginia coach Julie Myers to make a switch in the cage, replacing freshman Kim Kolarik with redshirt junior Lauren Benner.
The Virginia defense forced three turnovers on Syracuse's next three drives, keeping the ball away from the Orange offense. Gardner converted on a free position shot off the right side, and redshirt sophomore Ainsley Baker added another goal to make the score 10-12 in favor of Virginia. Then, with the two teams knotted at 13 apiece heading into the final two minutes, Finnigan proved to be the difference-maker. From point-blank range, the freshman netted the go-ahead goal as she fell to the turf, propelling the Cavaliers to a razor-thin 14-13 victory.
On the day for Virginia, Gardner and Finnigan led the attack with three goals each. Defensively, Duff led the way by causing three Orange turnovers throughout the game, and Benner notched three saves.
Kalkstein also contributed by helping the Cavaliers win 20-of-29 draws. The senior All-American tallied nine draw controls on her own to tie her career-high for a game set during the team's season-opener against Loyola. Her total also lifted her to first on the all-time ACC draw controls list with 214.
"I think Brittany Kalkstein on the draws were huge," Myers said. "I think we all felt pretty confident as a team that we were going to get the position back after whatever team scored. For her to [also] contribute offensively with two goals and two assists was pretty big."
The win marks the first time the Cavaliers have defeated a ranked opponent since March 24, 2009, when the team downed then-No. 19 James Madison by a score of 19-9.
"Collectively, I think it definitely means a lot," Duff said. "We've played, just as a team, really well from the people on the sidelines to the people playing [on the field]. Everyone was really enthusiastic. We started out our season with a loss, but we made a point that each game we're going to get better and better. I think today definitely meant we got better, which is a good step in our long road ahead of us."
The Cavaliers hope to build off the upset victory next weekend against No. 2 Maryland and Penn State
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