March 9, 2008

Friday, March 7

Second half propels Cavaliers over No. 19 Nittany Lions

The No. 2 Virginia women's lacrosse team used a dominating second half to overcome an early three-goal deficit to No. 19 Penn State in Holuba Hall Friday evening. The Cavaliers scored seven of the final eight goals of the game and used a 13-2 advantage in ground balls in the final 30 minutes to push past the Nittany Lions, 13-7.

Virginia rallied early in the second half to tally four straight goals and break open an even 6-6 halftime score, taking its largest lead of the game at 10-6. The Nittany Lions halted the run with a score from Theresa Bucci at the 6:53 mark. Junior Ashley McCulloch then found sophomore Brittany Kalkstein with 4:41 remaining in the contest to push Virginia up four at 11-7. Junior Jenny Hauser then tallied her second score on the day before senior Megan O'Malley notched the final goal of the day with only 13 ticks remaining on the clock.

Junior Blair Weymouth led the Cavaliers with a season-high six points on the day, tallying four goals with two helpers. Kalkstein tied a career-high with five points, notching three goals with two assists. McCulloch extended her scoring streak to 28 straight contests with a point, contributing two goals and two assist.

Hauser also tallied two scores, while senior Kaitlin Swagart and O'Malley also had a goal. Red-shirt sophomore Whitaker Hagerman added an assist.

Defensively, the Cavaliers held the advantage in ground balls, 18-9 and caused eight turnovers, compared to Penn State's four. Senior Alice Hughey and Weymouth led the defense with three ground balls each, while Hughey also had 4 caused turnovers.

In goal, senior Kendall McBrearty stopped 10 shots for Virginia.

Saturday, March 8

No. 4 Maryland Handles No. 16 James Madison, 16-10

Senior Kelly Kasper led all of Maryland's 10 point scorers with four goals and an assist as the No. 4 Maryland women's lacrosse team defeated No. 16 James Madison, 16-10, on March 8 at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

Senior Dana Dobbie recorded three goals and an assist while classmate Kate Princiotto had a goal and three assists. Senior Casey Magor notched a hat trick and sophomore Caitlyn McFadden contributed a goal and a pair of helpers. Sophomore Ali Perkins scored a goal and an assist off the bench.

Maryland jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead for the second-straight game. All four scores came from different players. McFadden had her two assists in the opening run and Kasper aided it with a goal and an assist.

James Madison scored its first goal at the 19:41 mark in the first half when Natasha Fuchs scored on a free-position opportunity. Dobbie added her second goal of the game to make it 5-1 but Emily Haller hit the Dukes' second free-position shot to cut the lead back to three with 17:39 to go.

The Terps got two more goals to push its lead to 7-2 as Magor and junior Kate Faas scored for Maryland. It was Faas' first goal as a member of the red and black.

Strong Second Half Propels Tar Heels By Vandy, 12-5

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The University of North Carolina women's lacrosse team got multiple goals from four players and out-scored Vanderbilt, 8-2, in the second half, beating the Commodores, 12-5, at blustery Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill on Saturday afternoon. Corey Donohoe scored three second-half goals for the eighth-ranked Tar Heels, who picked up the victory on a wet field with winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour during the game. UNC improved to 5-1 with the win while the 11th-ranked Commodores fell to 5-1.

Carolina jumped out to an early 3-0 lead only to see Vanderbilt battle back to tie the score at 3-3 with 7:31 left in the first half. Megan Bosica scored two consecutive goals, one in the closing seconds of the closing seconds of the first half and one five minutes into the second half to give Carolina a 5-3 lead it would not relinquish.

Donohoe led the Tar Heels with three goals. Bosica and Chelsea Parks each tallied two goals and an assist. Erica LaGrow scored two goals, Kelly Taylor had a goal and an assist and Julia Ryan and Jenn Russell each scored single goals for UNC. Margie Curran led Vandy with two goals and an assist.

LaGrow got the scoring started two minutes into the game with an unassisted score, driving from the top of the eight-meter arc and slipping the ball past Vandy keeper Brooke Shinaberry. Nearly 14 minutes later, Ryan scored an unassisted goal, spinning past two Commodore defenders, to make it 2-0 UNC at 14:22. Twenty seconds later, Parks scored an unassisted goal to make it 3-0 and force a Vandy timeout.

Hokies come back to defeat Spiders, 16-15

Freshman Allie Emala scored the second game-winning goal of her career with just 1:05 remaining to give Virginia Tech a 16-15 victory over the Richmond Spiders on Saturday in Tech Lacrosse Stadium.

In their highest-scoring game of the season, seniors Kady McBrearty and Jenna Reich combined for 16 of the team's 23 goals and assists to help the Hokies earn their second consecutive home victory.

Tech (2-5) was led by McBrearty and Reich on the attack. They both totaled career highs with four goals apiece, while Reich totaled her career high by dishing out two assists to total six points on the day. McBrearty was credited with a season-high four assists to bring her team-high total to eight points for the contest.

Richmond (2-4) scored the first two goals of the game and went out to a 3-1 lead before Tech scored five unanswered goals in the opening 15 minutes of the first half. Reich sparked the Hokies' first offensive outburst of the contest, tallying three of her goals during this stretch that gave Tech its largest lead of the game, 6-3.

The teams traded scored for the next three minutes until the score was 8-5, but the Spiders went on a three-goal scoring streak to tie the game at eight apiece with 6:35 to play in the first half.

Boston College Lacrosse Loses Tight Battle to No. 10 Yale, 11-8

Boston College lacrosse dropped a hard-fought matchup to No. 10 Yale on Saturday afternoon. For the first time this season, the Eagles did not registered a double-digit score, as they lost, 11-8. Sophomore Lauren Costello and junior Lauren Fitzpatrick led the way with two goals apiece. BC is now 1-3 on the season, while Yale improved to 3-1.

Yale got on the board first, scoring within three minutes of the opening whistle when Meredith Callahan recorded an unassisted goal. It took Costello less than two minutes to even the score when she netted her 11th goal of the season.

After the two teams traded goals again, the Eagles took the lead when junior Sarah Sedgwick notched a free position goal and then Costello recorded a score assisted by junior captain Jenna McCabe before the halfway mark in the first period. After a goal by Jenna Block to make the score 4-3 in the Eagles' favor, freshman Kaitlyn Horsman nailed a free position score and McCabe tallied a goal to put BC on top, 6-3.

Duke Falls To No. 7 Princeton, 13-8

The No. 3 Duke Blue Devils lost its first game of the season to Princeton, 13-8, on Saturday afternoon at Princeton Stadium. Duke never led and did not tie the game after 1-1.

Duke was held to its lowest goal total of the season, and its three goals in the first period were the lowest half output for the Blue Devils since they scored just one goal in the second stanza against Northwestern on April 7, 2007.

Junior midfielder Carolyn Davis, junior attacked Megan Del Monte and freshman midfielder Emma Hamm each tallied two goals to lead Duke, and Del Monte added Duke's only assist on the day. Duke outshot Princeton, 25-22, but was only able to put 14 shots on goals while Princeton did that 18 times.

On defense Duke caused nine turnovers and Princeton turned the ball over a total of 21 times. However, the Blue Devils' 17 turnovers-- of which the Tigers caused 10-- did not make that statistic have much of an impact.