The No. 14 Virginia women’s lacrosse team opened their season with a 15-12 victory over No. 18 Navy on Saturday afternoon.
The Cavaliers (1-0) got off to a slow start, falling behind 4-1 to the Midshipmen (0-1) and failing to record a shot on goal for the first 12 minutes. Coach Julie Myers called a timeout after Virginia conceded the fourth goal and changed the momentum of the game.
After the timeout, the Cavaliers scored five unanswered goals to end the second half and headed into halftime with a 6-4 lead.
Virginia carried that momentum into the second half, racing out to a 10-6 lead within 12 minutes. The Cavaliers never allowed the Midshipmen to reduce the deficit to less than two goals in the second half and managed to hang on for the win.
Senior attacker Avery Shoemaker led all players with seven points on four goals and three assists. Junior midfield Nora Bowen recorded a hat trick and six other players managed to find the back of the net for Virginia.
Navy recorded five more shots on goal than Virginia, but junior goalie Charlie Campbell came up big in net. Campbell stopped 12 of 24 shots on goal from the Midshipmen, including multiple from free position shots.
"Just really excited that the season has started and that we started with a win," Myers said. “I'm really excited we rose to the challenge against great competition, and we came up with the win."
The Cavaliers begin their season at 1-0 for the third time in the past four years. The win also avenged last season’s 16-13 loss to Navy in Annapolis.
Virginia’s next game is at Elon University Saturday, Feb. 16. at 1 p.m. The Cavaliers return home on Feb. 23, to face No. 8 Princeton after playing at Richmond Feb. 20.
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