The No. 11 Virginia women’s lacrosse team traveled to Annapolis on Wednesday to take on No. 13 Navy and dropped its fourth game in a row, 16-13.
After a strong start to the season, the Cavaliers (8-6, 3-2 ACC) have fallen apart lately. Losses to top opponents Maryland and Boston College are to be expected, but Virginia has now lost two in less than a week to lower ranked opponents in Penn State and Navy (10-3, 4-1 Patriot).
Virginia got off to a slow start, falling behind 4-0 early in the first half, but quickly pulled even at five. The rest of the game was defined by a back and forth. The Cavaliers pulled ahead by one early in the second half, but Navy retook the lead with over 24 minutes left and held off Virginia’s attempts to pull even.
Sophomore midfielder Sammy Mueller was the player of the game for the Cavaliers and the main reason the game remained close. She finished with six goals and an assist. Sophomore attacker Kelly Larkin led the way in scoring in the win for Navy with four goals, while junior attacker Meg O’Donnell contributed three of her own. Senior attacker Julia Collins led the team with four assists and scored three as well.
Virginia has three games left on the regular season schedule with a road match against unranked Louisville coming up first on Saturday, April 14. The Cavaliers need to come away with a win in Kentucky to rebuild some confidence and get back on track with No. 4 JMU looming large next week and the ACC Tournament at the end of the month.