Virginia women’s lacrosse lost 13-12 to Richmond in the team’s home opener Wednesday evening. Despite a 5-0 run late in the game, No. 7 Cavaliers (4-1, 0-0 ACC) trailed the Spiders (5-0, 0-0 SoCon) for most of the match. Towards the end of two scoreless overtime periods, the Spiders scored with just six seconds left to beat the Cavaliers for the first time in over 10 years.
Richmond came out strong from the opening whistle, scoring the first three goals of the game. Virginia was unable to put points on the board until 19:25, when junior attacker Olivia Schildmeyer tried to change the tide for Virginia and netted her first goal of the night.
The two teams traded goals for most of the first half, but the Spiders maintained a slight lead over the Cavaliers. Thanks to a pair of goals from Richmond junior attackers Nicole Concannon and Sam Geiersbach, it looked as though Virginia would end the half with a four-point deficit, but senior midfielder Sammy Mueller was able to net a quick goal as time expired to make the score 7-4 headed into the break.
Sophomore midfielder Courtlynne Caskin started the second half on fire, scoring a goal just 37 seconds in. Unwilling to give up the lead, Richmond responded with yet another goal a minute later, and the two teams continued to trade goals.
The Cavaliers needed to cut the Spiders’ advantage quickly, and they did just that in the second part of the half. Virginia caught fire with a 5-0 run in the last ten minutes of the game, finding its strongest momentum yet. Schildmeyer, Mueller, junior midfielder Ashlyn McGovern and freshman midfielder Kiki Shaw contributed goals to the effort, giving the Cavaliers their first lead of the day.
Geiersbach was able to net the game-tier for Richmond with just 52 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. The first overtime period was scoreless, and as time went on, a goal seemed unlikely from either team. However, Richmond freshman midfielder Lindsey Frank scored the game-winner with six seconds remaining in the second period.
The win marks the Spiders’ first win over Virginia since 2006 and the Cavaliers’ first loss of the season.
Despite the loss, three Cavaliers had impressive performances — Caskin, Mueller and Schildmeyer led the team in goals with three each. Junior goalie Charlie Campbell also had 10 saves.
“Richmond came to play hard, to compete and put a winning performance out there,” Coach Julie Myers said. “I thought they did a great job from the opening whistle to the end. We were somewhat fortunate to climb our way back in and get that lead there down the stretch. Clearly Richmond came hungrier and wanted it a little bit more than we did.”
Looking to avenge last year’s loss, the Cavaliers will begin ACC play with a tough match-up against No. 1 North Carolina Saturday. The game will start at 12 p.m. at Klockner Stadium.
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