The No. 7 Virginia women’s lacrosse team dropped its third game of the season Saturday, falling to No. 3 Boston College 15-12.
The Cavaliers (8-3, 3-2 ACC) started out strong, pulling ahead to a 4-1 lead fueled by a quick hat-trick from junior attacker Avery Shoemaker. Boston College (13-0, 4-0 ACC) then went on a run of their own with five unanswered and the game settled to a 6-6 draw at the half.
Virginia could not slow down the top-scoring offense in the country in the second half as the Golden Eagles pulled away to a 14-8 lead with five minutes left. A late push from sophomore midfielder Sammy Mueller — including three unassisted goals and an assist — was not enough and Boston College held on for the win.
Shoemaker led the team with four goals while Mueller added three goals and two assists. The Cavaliers did a great job defending the leading goal scorer in the country, junior attacker Sam Apuzzo, who was limited to one in the finals minutes of the second half. However, Virginia allowed a detrimental trio of hat-tricks — including one from junior midfielder Dempsey Arsenault. Senior goalkeeper Rachel Vander Kolk was pulled early for the second-straight game in favor of sophomore Charlie Campbell.
Virginia will need to have a short memory after this loss as it has an equally tough game coming up against the defending champion Maryland. The No. 2 Terrapins are 10-1 with the single loss coming in overtime against No. 5 North Carolina. The game is on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in College Park, Md. but will be televised on ESPNU.
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