The No. 5 seeded Virginia women’s lacrosse team will begin its postseason this Thursday against No. 4 seeded Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC women’s lacrosse tournament.
The single elimination tournament will be held over the weekend in Blacksburg, Va., with the championship game slated for Sunday.
Last season, Syracuse won the tournament as the No. 6 seed, upsetting No. 1 seed North Carolina 9-8 in double overtime. This year, with seven of the eight teams in the ACC conference currently ranked nationally in the top 20, the tournament looks to be just as competitive and wide open as last year.
“Not only is this preparing you for the NCAA tournament, but it’s also just old school rivalries,” senior midfielder Mary Alati said. “It’ll be a lot of fun to watch. Every single game is competitive.”
To advance out of the first round, the Cavaliers (9-7, 3-4 ACC) will have to avenge a midseason loss. Duke (9-7, 4-3 ACC) defeated Virginia earlier this season March 26, 11-8. However, both teams enter this rematch with different momentum compared to their first meeting.
For the Cavaliers, the loss against Duke came in the midst of a midseason slump, and it marked their fifth loss in six games. But since losing to the Blue Devils, Virginia has won four of their past five games, with their only loss coming on the road to No. 1 Maryland.
Meanwhile, for Duke, the win against Virginia was at the time the team’s fourth victory in a row. But since the win, Duke has dropped three of four games. The Blue Devils’ most recent game was a 16-8 loss to No. 3 North Carolina.
“We are going to be well prepared and really excited to play in this game,” head coach Julie Myers said.
Alati agreed.
“I feel like of late we’ve been playing really well and have fixed issues we had earlier this season,” she said. “We’re entering this game feeling good, and we want to beat them after having lost to them previously.”
To beat Duke, the Cavaliers will need to find a way to crack the Blue Devils’ stingy defense. Led by two First Team All-ACC players in senior goalie Kelsey Duryea and junior defender Maura Schwitter, the Duke defense is ranked No. 27 nationally in allowing just 8.38 goals per game.
But Virginia’s offense has been clicking as of late, as the team has averaged 11.6 goals scored per game over the past five matches.
The Cavaliers will look to utilize the balanced offensive attacking style that has brought them recent success against Duke.
“I think we just need to play our game and focus on us,” Alati said. “We can’t let them dictate how we play,”
Myers had a similar outlook.
“We need to make sure that we are focused on our game plan, and really execute the details of it early on and just build our momentum from there,” she said.
On offense, Duke is led by sophomore attacker Kyra Harney. Harney is the Blue Devils’ leading scorer with 43 goals this season.
To stop her, the Cavaliers will rely on senior defenders Ella Cooper and Sarah Gillespie, as well as junior defenders Wyatt Whitley and Maggie Preas. This quartet of defenders has started every game for Virginia this season.
The winner of the game will go on to the semifinals and play the winner of the No. 1 seed North Carolina (13-2, 7-0 ACC) vs. No. 8 Virginia Tech (5-12, 0-7 ACC) matchup. The semifinal game will be played Friday at 5 p.m.
Read More
Virginia volleyball falls to No. 3 Louisville in competitive match
By Cole Huff | 13 hours agoThe Cavaliers fought admirably but predictably fell short against one of the best teams in college volleyball.
Appleton and Martin shine as women’s cross cross country finishes 14th, men 21st at NCAA Championships
By Caroline Wulff | 13 hours agoEach of Virginia's teams moved up one spot from their finishes at last year's NCAA Championships.
The bleacher-stomping tradition that animates Virginia’s home soccer games
By Michael Liebermann | 15 hours ago"A great tradition," Coach George Gelnovatch called it.
