Too little too late was the story of Wednesday’s game, as despite a fourth-quarter push, five-seed Virginia women’s lacrosse fell 11-9 to four-seed Syracuse in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament in Charlotte, N.C. The Cavaliers (8-9, 6-4 ACC) trailed the Orange (13-4, 7-3 ACC) for the final 54 minutes of game time as Syracuse dominated from start to finish.
Freshman midfielder Megan Rocklein scored the opening goal to put Virginia up 1-0 90 seconds into this one, but three straight by the Orange set the stage for a first half that was all Syracuse. By halftime, the Orange led 6-2 and their star, senior midfielder Emma Muchnick, had already recorded a hat trick.
Early in the second half, Syracuse stretched its lead to five, the largest it would get all day. The Orange held onto a 7-2 advantage until the eight-minute mark in the third when Rocklein netted her second of the game. Syracuse answered quickly before back-to-back Cavalier goals by freshman midfielder Cady Flaherty and junior attacker Madison Alaimo cut the deficit to three. It wasn’t even 70 seconds later that Muchnick promptly put her fourth of the game in the back of the net, giving Syracuse a 9-5 lead heading into the fourth.
The teams traded goals early in the final frame with junior midfielder Kate Galica scoring first for Virginia and graduate midfielder Courtney McLay answering with a few ticks over 13 minutes remaining in the game.
With time running out on both the game and the season, the Cavalier offense kicked into overdrive. With just over 12 to go, Syracuse failed to clear thanks to pressure from Galica. She jumped on the ground ball and took it all the way down to the Syracuse goal, but her shot went high, and it was sophomore attacker Fiona Allen who scored on a textbook give-and-go with Rocklein.
Galica controlled the ensuing draw, her ninth and final draw control of the afternoon, and Virginia went right to work drawing a foul and a free position shot for Flaherty. That shot was blocked, and the Orange went the other way with it, but a huge save by graduate goalkeeper Elyse Finnelle kept the score 10-7.
Virginia cleared, called a timeout, and on the following possession, Allen broke for the net. She was met with a high pass from Alaimo that she was able to slam home, cutting the deficit to two and potting her 24th of the year.
With six to play, the Cavaliers were down two and on the power play. It was Alaimo playing distributor once again, wrapping around the goal from behind and threading a beautiful pass into the crease for an easy finish for sophomore attacker Gabby Laverghetta, her 20th of the year.
The score then sat 10-9 with five to go in regulation, and although Syracuse won the draw, a turnover forced by sophomore midfielder Sophia Conti put Virginia right back on the attack.
With the Cavaliers on a subsequent 4-on-2 breakaway, sophomore midfielder Livy Laverghetta had a fantastic chance to tie, but her shot was stonewalled and the Orange clung tightly to their one-goal lead.
Syracuse then called timeout, and shortly thereafter scored to go up 11-9 with two and a half minutes to play, a score that would hold through the final buzzer. The loss ended Virginia’s hopes at an upset and knocked them out of contention for the national tournament.
With the Cavaliers now 8-9, they are ineligible to qualify for the tournament due to their sub .500 record, thus snapping their streak of 29-straight NCAA tournament appearances.
Even so, there’s quite a bit to be excited about as every one of Virginia’s leading scorers has eligibility left and could potentially return to unite with a freshman class that features Brinn and Ava Findora — the No. 8 and No. 17 recruits nationally — as well as two other top-50 recruits in Ella Davis and Regan Backer.
“I am proud as heck of this team,” Coach Sonia LaMonica said after the loss. “Win or lose, these kids showed up the next day for practice, ready to work at it and play the game. I’m sorry it’s over for our seniors, but they should know that this will go down as a transformational season, and I thank them for that … It is hard to win championships in this modern landscape, but we will get there, and this team will be the catalyst for why and how.”
A big offseason looms for LaMonica and her squad, as they’ll look to learn from this season and come out strong next spring.
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