In the 50th women’s lacrosse meeting between No. 22 Virginia and No. 2 North Carolina Friday, Virginia (6-8, 4-4 ACC) knew the cards were stacked against them — for over half a century, the Cavaliers had been on the bottom end of a 35-14 record.
To make matters worse, this season the Tar Heels (11-1, 8-0) sport a perfect record in the ACC, sitting atop the conference with arguably the best player in the country, sophomore attacker and Tewaaraton winner Chloe Humphrey. North Carolina’s prowess and defensive struggles on the Cavaliers’ end made for the perfect storm as Virginia fell 19-4 to North Carolina — the 15-goal deficit is the highest of the season.
Humphrey struck first in the opening minutes of the first quarter, the sharpshooter rolling the crease to nab a shot into the corner of the net — a trend that would continue as Humphrey would record seven goals on the day.
But turnovers in the midfield made for most of the Tar Heel’s scoring opportunities as North Carolina made rapid transitions between restraining lines, snatching dropped passes and ground balls from the Cavaliers and attacking the cage as the Virginia defense struggled to keep up. Virginia totaled 15 turnovers to the Tar Heels’ nine.
“Defensively, we were just seeing too many possessions,” Head Coach Sonia LaMonica said. “We had to adjust our defensive set to try and negate some of what they were doing.”
Despite Virginia’s possession struggles, junior midfielder Kate Galica had another impressive performance on the draw. Virginia’s all-time draw control record holder won 11 in the first half and totaled 15 for the day, closing in on Virginia’s single-game record of 17. A goal in the waning minutes of the first quarter capped off the day for one of Virginia’s stalwart pieces in the midfield.
“She put us in a position to have a fighting chance out here today,” LaMonica said. “She just continues to shine on the draws, and she's one of the best in the country … that's a bright spot for us.”
On the offensive side, Virginia was kept far from the fan of the 12-meter arc, pushed out by a North Carolina defense that hounded the Cavaliers at every step and eagerly intercepted passes as they struggled to break through, forced to run isolation plays or swing the ball outside of scoring range.
“[Offense has] been a journey for us this year, not for lack of effort,” LaMonica said. “I think a lot of it's mental ... it's just some of the little things that we've got to execute better and [finish] some of our shots early in the game to get that momentum.”
Some reprieve came in the form of sophomore midfielder Payton Sfreddo and sophomore attacker Fiona Allen, as Sfreddo shook off defenders in the second quarter to notch her first goal since Virginia’s win against Florida State March 8. Allen, fresh off of scoring a career-high five goals in a comeback against Louisville — the deciding factor for the victory — found the net twice in the fourth quarter, working to chip at the 15-goal scoring gap even as it became insurmountable.
But although the chance of an upset slipped away, midway through the third quarter, senior goalkeeper Mel Josephson took some of the weight off of graduate goalkeeper Elyse Finnelle, goalie-gloved hands outstretched to pump up the fans at Klӧckner Stadium after two consecutive saves in the third quarter — a late-game shot in the arm for seemingly deflated Virginia.
Although Josephson entered the game later on, her four saves helped to interrupt North Carolina’s slew of goals, a difficult tide to quell as the Tar Heels capitalized on eight out of 11 free position shots, with seven occurring in the second half.
“We needed to just get a bit of a reset and find a spark, maybe give their shooters a different goalie to look at,” LaMonica said on bringing Josephson in. “Being able to get Mel out … we're fortunate to have that.”
The final seconds of the fourth quarter left the ball in Virginia’s hands, a final free position shot from North Carolina saved by Josephson as the horns signaling the end of play sounded and the relentless Tar Heel offense took their leave. As Virginia regrouped, a cluster of children holding posters for attacker Chloe Humphrey could be heard calling across the field for the phenom’s attention.
“We've got to find answers from everybody out on the field,” LaMonica said. “It's [seven versus seven]. It can't just be one person trying to do it all themselves.”
The Cavaliers face No. 13 Boston College next Saturday, April 11 for their final home game and Senior Day celebration. Their last chance for a win in Klӧckner Stadium lies ahead of the Commonwealth Clash on the road against conference foe Virginia Tech April 16. The matchup against Boston College can be streamed on ESPNU.
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