Amid yesterday's foggy conditions, the Virginia women's lacrosse team managed to avoid the rain in defeating the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 14-8. It was the second straight victory for the rising No. 4 Cavaliers (7-2), although the Retrievers (1-4) challenged them a bit more than most expected.
As has been its trademark in recent games, the Virginia offense attacked quickly and accurately, scoring four goals in the first seven minutes. The first came just 16 seconds into the game when junior midfielder Lauren Aumiller connected on a pass from freshman attacker Amy Appelt, one of 10 Cavalier assists.
With 5:30 gone by in the first half, Virginia sophomore attacker Caitlin Banks scored on an assist from Aumiller. Virginia rapidly increased its lead to 4-0 with two assists by senior midfielder Gina Sambus for goals by senior midfielder Molly Cangemi and Aumiller, respectively.
UMBC got on the board just before the 22-minute mark, and it did not hesitate to do so again two minutes later. The defense would survive this test, however, holding the Retrievers scoreless for more than 12 minutes and to only two goals for the rest of the half.
"Our defense is actually playing very well together right now, and it's everyone from the middies to the attackers that rotate in," senior defender Tiffany Schummer said. "Practice has been pretty intense. We've been focusing on sliding, and everyone has stepped up, from top to bottom, to make it work."
Schummer, the captain of the Virginia defense, was named both national player of the week and ACC Player of the week last week.
Only seconds after the second UMBC goal, Appelt scored Virginia's fifth, and Aumiller added two more within the next five minutes. Aumiller, the game's leading scorer with six goals, moved into fifth on the Virginia all-time scoring list. Sophomore midfielder Lauren Keller scored the Cavaliers' final goal of the first half to give her team an 8-2 lead with 15:12 to go in the half.
UMBC midfielder Lauren Traber scored three of her team's four first-half goals. The fourth came from attacker Jen Dragoni with just under three minutes to go in the half.
In the first few minutes of the second half, UMBC managed to cut the lead to two with goals by Dragoni and midfielder Ashley Staines. At that point the Cavaliers knew it was time to change the strategy.
Sophomore midfielder Morgan Thalenberg energized the crowd by hitting her third goal of the season five minutes into the half, and the momentum quickly changed.
"We just decided to start our fast break up again, and once our shots started falling a little bit more we were able to go ahead," Aumiller said.
The Cavaliers scored three more goals over the next seven minutes to extend the lead to six, keeping the game out of reach with a running offense and consistently tight defense.
"Honestly the conditions weren't ideal coming off a huge win," Schummer said, referring to the Cavaliers' 11-8 upset over then-No.4 North Carolina this weekend. "It's tough to keep the same mental level. The win was something we had to fight through, but most importantly we stuck together and came out on top mentally"
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