No. 6 Virginia women’s lacrosse traveled to Charlotte, N.C. to take on No. 1 Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament Wednesday. The Cavaliers (11-6, 5-4 ACC) finished the regular season at seventh in the ACC standings, leading them to be matched up against the second-seeded Eagles (16-1, 8-1 ACC). While Virginia showed a much stronger performance than its previous outing against Boston College, the Cavaliers were still unable to stop the highest scoring offense in the nation, losing 7-17 to the Eagles.
Despite the loss, Virginia’s output on the draw circle was an important highlight. Freshman midfielder Payton Sfreddo notched seven of the Cavaliers’ 17 draw controls, which far outperformed Boston College’s 10. However, Virginia was unable to make use of the extra possessions — a key factor being that the Eagles opted to face guard sophomore midfielder Kate Galica, who has been key to the Cavaliers’ offensive output this season.
Sophomore attacker Jenna DiNardo led the way for Virginia with two goals. Junior defender Nicole Cruthirds also notably scored her first career goal in the second quarter.
The Cavaliers showed promise early on — a large shift in their performance from the regular season matchup, where Virginia immediately surrendered a 4-0 lead to Boston College. This time around, though, the Cavaliers showed strong off-ball awareness on defense, limiting the Eagles’ standout trio of junior attackers Emma LoPinto and Rachel Clark and senior attacker McKenna Davis to just one point altogether. After the whistle ended the first period of play, the teams were tied 2-2.
Yet Boston College returned to the field unsatisfied and took off with eight goals in the second quarter. Virginia continued to succeed on the draw circle but once again found itself struggling against the NCAA’s top netminder, junior goalkeeper Shea Dolce.
Dolce entered Wednesday coming off of a .857 save percentage performance against No. 9 Syracuse, and she gave the Cavaliers trouble as well, making 14 saves. As Virginia fought to find a way through on offense, more holes in its defense appeared, making way for Boston College’s offensive stars to get in their groove.
The second half followed suit, with the Cavaliers unable to make up for the damage the Eagles did in the second quarter. Virginia was held scoreless in the third quarter, closing off any hope for a comeback.
With dreams of conference glory squandered, the Cavaliers must wait until May 4 to see if they will make another postseason appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The ACC is arguably the most difficult conference to play women’s lacrosse in, with four teams ranked in the national top 10. A loss to Boston College will certainly not immediately take Virginia out of national tournament contention — now it will be a matter of where it places the Cavaliers in the rankings.
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