One thing the No. 9 Virginia women's lacrosse team won't be doing this Spring Break is relaxing. With four games spread over eight days, the team will have its hands full as they go on the road for all four in an early-season, make-or-break stretch.
The first game in the road trip for the Cavaliers (1-1) comes this Friday at the University of Richmond, with the final game coming Sunday, March 14, at No. 1 Princeton.
Last season the women came within a goal of winning the national championship when they lost to Princeton in overtime in the title game. The semifinals and finals, which were held in Syracuse's Carrier Dome last year, will be held at Princeton later this spring. This is convenient for the Tigers and their eight returning starters, including All-American attack Theresa Sherry, who will be vying for a third straight national title. The Cavalier women hope that their Spring Break visit to Princeton will be followed by a return trip in late May for a chance to claim their first championship since 1993.
The University of Richmond (0-1), who the Cavaliers beat 17-10 last season, will host Virginia this Friday. On Tuesday, the women will travel to College Park, Md., where they will take on ACC foe No. 3 Maryland, who is 1-1 on the season. Last season, Virginia lost twice to Maryland, once during the regular season and once in the ACC tournament, before finally beating the Terrapins 9-8 in the NCAA tournament semifinals. The win snapped a three-game losing streak to the Terps and has Virginia hoping to create a winning streak of their own.
The Cavaliers' high-powered offense, which should be a big factor in determining the success of the road trip, has led the nation in scoring offense the past two years. The scoring is spearheaded by a duo of returning junior All-Americans, Amy Appelt and Cary Chasney. But the scoring barrage can come from anywhere on the field, which was demonstrated Saturday when junior midfielder Courtney Young added a hat trick in the losing effort. Young, one of five Cavaliers on the 33-woman roster to hail from Conestoga High School in Paoli, Pa., also controlled four draws on the day.
"Courtney Young came up big," Myers said. "If we can get three goals out of her in a game, then we should win."
Coming off last Saturday's 14-13 loss to Syracuse University, in which the Orangewomen scored two goals in the final six minutes to secure the win, the Cavaliers dropped to 1-1 on the season.
Virginia defeated Vanderbilt 14-10 in the season opener.
Particularly heartbreaking in the Syracuse loss was the fact that at two points in the second half, Virginia held a four-goal lead.
"If we could've gotten them the ball a little bit at the end, it would've been great," Virginia coach Julie Myers said on the inability to get the ball in the sticks of the team's "big guns."
The Cavaliers didn't hesitate to place the blame squarely on their own shoulders for the loss.
"Honestly, I think it was totally our fault" junior attack Amy Appelt said. "We sat back and played into their hands, which is not our game at all. We held the ball when we should've been going hard to goal. We played their game instead of playing our game."
The final half of Virginia's road trip consists of games at No. 14 Penn State (0-1) and a title game rematch when they play at Princeton. Penn State lost to Vanderbilt 16-12 in their only regular season game to date and will face Virginia on Friday, March 12, in State College. Oddly enough, Princeton has not yet played a game on the season, although they will have played two games between now and when they host the Cavaliers.
For Virginia, the real prize, no matter how their four-game road trip turns out, is a two-week home stand that awaits them on their return. Along with that awaits the bulk of their schedule, including the rest of their ACC slate, with matchups against second ranked Duke and No. 13 North Carolina. Maybe after all that is done, they can finally relax.
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