The No. 4 Virginia women's lacrosse team (8-2) scored early and often in a convincing 19-5 victory over the Temple Owls (2-4) Saturday at Klockner Stadium.
Attacker Tyler Leachman led the scoring onslaught with five goals and an assist, while attacker Amy Appelt added three goals and two assists. Attacker Caitlin Banks also chipped in with a goal and three assists.
Two early Virginia goals were disallowed because of crease violations, but the Cavaliers continued to dictate play by keeping the ball in the offensive zone. The Cavaliers got on the board near the seven-minute mark with a goal by midfielder Courtney Young assisted by Banks. Temple attacker Megan Condon, who also added two assists, tied the game 17 seconds later on a turnover in front of the Virginia net.
The Cavaliers responded with six unanswered goals, including three by Leachman, to open up a 7-1 lead midway through the first half. After Temple broke the run to narrow the deficit to five, Virginia scored five consecutive goals to end the half, including a natural hat trick by Appelt -- three goals in a row. This marked Appelt's tenth consecutive game with at least three goals.
Virginia continued in the second half with the same offensive explosiveness as in the first, outscoring Temple 7-3. For the game, the Cavaliers outshot the Owls 39-14 and controlled possession by winning 20 of 26 draws.
In the hustle department, Virginia led in groundballs by a margin of 25-20 and caused seven turnovers to the Owls' five. Cavaliers defenseman Molly Urlock led the charge with three groundballs and two forced turnovers.
This game marked the fourth straight success of coach Julie Myers' new offensive system, an attack the coach coined "organized chaos." In these home victories against North Carolina, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, William & Mary and Temple, the Cavaliers have not scored fewer than 16 goals, a mark they reached only once in the season's first six games.
After the victory over Temple, Myers described the new offensive scheme.
"Everybody's ready and everybody cuts hard with the purpose of getting the ball," Myers said. "They come from all corners and the kids have an idea of where the next person is going to come from. So, it looks disorganized to some eyes, but the kids have faith -- it's an organized chaos -- it's really hard to defend against. If I were an attacker, it's the system I would want to play, that's for sure."
Myers also discussed the emergence of Leachman as another scoring threat, in addition to the team's leading scorer, Appelt.
Leachman "didn't start the season as a starter, so now she has started probably five or six games in a row," Myers said. "So I think she is coming into it. She is comfortable; she knows that she has earned a starting position and she wants it to stay that way. We are thrilled with what she has been able to do."
Leachman credited her success in part to the presence of Appelt.
"She gets the defense's focus, everyone's always concentrating on her, and she's good at getting the ball out and seeing the open person," Leachman said of Appelt. "She has a ton of assists this year, which is a real tribute to her, because she always has a double-team and is able to get the ball out."
Myers warned against overvaluing the success of "organized chaos" with a Wednesday home game against No. 5 James Madison on the horizon.
"So far, so good, but you know, Wednesday night is going to be by far the best team we have played in the last week," Myers said. "That will be a much better test of our organized chaos."
The Cavaliers will face another stiff test immediately following the JMU contest, with a match-up against top-10 ACC opponent Duke on Saturday.
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