The last time the Virginia women's lacrosse team hosted Princeton was May 2006 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In one of the biggest upsets of the season, Princeton stunned then-No. 2 Virginia with an 9-7 win at Klöckner Stadium. Going into Saturday's game against the Tigers, the Cavaliers had revenge on their minds.
So, after No. 3 Virginia (8-1, 2-1 ACC) defeated No. 8 Princeton (3-3) 9-7, the Cavaliers had reason to smile.
"We've been thinking about that [NCAA Tournament] game since it happened, so it was definitely revenge," senior midfielder Jess Wasilewski said. "We were coming out just wanting to give them everything we had and just kick the crap out of them, basically. It was definitely a revenge game for us."
Timely offense and a few great saves by junior goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty were enough to seal the win for the Cavaliers. The Tigers scored the first goal of the game, and after sophomore attacker Ashley McCulloch tied the game, Princeton responded, taking a 2-1 lead. But it only took 11 seconds for senior attacker Megan Havrilla to tie the game at 2-2. After that, Princeton never led again.
Princeton dominated Virginia in terms of ground balls, leading that category 20 to nine, but the Cavaliers' offense was on the attack all game long. Virginia won 13 draws in the game, compared to Princeton's five; of those 13, freshman midfielder Brittany Kalkstein won five and McCulloch won four. Senior attacker Kate Breslin netted a hat trick for the Cavaliers, and six other players contributed one goal apiece en route to the 9-7 victory. McCulloch and Havrilla combined for two goals and five assists.
It was not an easy win for Virginia, however, as the largest lead in the game was only three points. That margin lasted less than three minutes and shows that both Virginia and Princeton had opportunities to win.
"Both teams really gave the other team a chance to go down and get the job done," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "I think when push came to shove down the stretch in the last five minutes, it was Virginia winning the draws and coming up with some of those ground balls, and really hitting home on those transitions [that allowed us to win]. I was glad to see our team coming up with it down the stretch, but it definitely came the hard way."
Goalkeeping was also an important factor in the win for Virginia as McBrearty made nine saves. Though Virginia was out-shot by Princeton, McBrearty was able to stop the Tigers' offense at pivotal points in the game.
"[McBrearty] was great. She was credited with nine saves, and seven of those saves were unbelievable at point blank and momentum-turning saves," Myers said. "If some of those go in, Princeton's feeling pretty good and we are a little bit scared. Not only were they saves, they came at critical times and were very athletic, and it really inspired out team."
Looking ahead, Virginia heads to No. 6 James Madison Wednesday to take on the Dukes in what should be a highly competitive game. Three days later, the No. 5 Blue Devils come to Charlottesville to complete the most trying stretch of Virginia's season. The Cavaliers will look to maintain their current energy and improve their quality of play against these two top-10 teams.
"We want to take this momentum against JMU and then Duke next weekend, [so this win over Princeton was] obviously a huge game for us," Wasilewski said. "We just keep the momentum going. We obviously weren't perfect today, so [we need to] just work on the things we weren't good at and use the things we were good at, and just keep on rolling into the next couple of games."
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