LaMonica Wins Debut, Virginia Women's Lacrosse Downs Liberty 14-6

In her first year leading the Virginia women's lacrosse program, head coach Sonia LaMonica was insistent that developing the Cavaliers into an elite defensive team was one of her top priorities.

So far, so good.

Holding a slim two-goal advantage at halftime, UVA completely seized control of the game in the second half thanks to a smothering defensive effort. Virginia held Liberty scoreless for more than 23 minutes of gametime and put together a 6-0 run over that stretch, cruising to a 14-6 road victory in the season opener on Friday evening in Lynchburg.

Sonia LaMonica wasn't the only person making her UVA debut on Friday and two of those Cavalier newcomers made their presences felt early on. Lehigh graduate transfer Katia Carnevale scored the first goal of the season and freshman midfielder Addi Foster scored the second.

It was a rather slow start to the game offensively, but Virginia goalie Mel Josephson, who would end up being the player of the game for the Cavaliers, got her team started with a few big early saves. Josephson is in her second year at UVA, but she didn't see any time in between the pipes as a freshman. LaMonica loved what she saw from Josephson through the fall and preseason, enough to give her the start in the season opener, and Josephson didn't disappoint, posting five saves in the first half.

After Liberty tied the game at 1-1, Virginia scored the next four goals, with Mackenzie Hoeg scoring twice on either side of a Morgan Schwab goal. The Flames responded with back-to-back unassisted goals to cut the UVA lead to 5-3 at halftime.

It was a sloppy game in the first half, with each team turning the ball over 11 times. Liberty outshot Virginia 12-9 in the first half, but the five saves from Josephson proved to be the difference.

Virginia turned this close game into a blowout with a knockout third quarter. UVA's defense, which had already been playing well in the first half, stepped it up a notch and held the Flames scoreless for the entirety of the third quarter. Josephson doubled her save total in the third with five saves in that period alone.

On the offensive end, Virginia capitalized by scoring five goals, the first coming from senior defender Devon Whitaker, just the third goal of her career. After registering two assists in the first half, freshman Madison Alaimo scored her first collegiate goal. Carnevale scored her second and Kiki Shaw added a goal before another freshman, Jenna Dinardo, capped the quarter with a goal with 37 seconds left to make it 10-3.

Carnevale punctuated the run with her third goal of the game to make it 11-3 before Liberty finally snapped its 23-minute scoring drought with a goal in the fourth quarter. The Flames found the back of the net three times in the final period to bring Josephson's numbers somewhat back down to earth, but the Cavaliers still cruised to a comfortable and strong 14-6 victory in the season opener.

It was a career day for Mel Josephson in her first-ever collegiate game, posting 12 saves to six goals allowed for a .667 save percentage. Katia Carnevale ultimately finished with four goals on seven shots in her UVA debut, and Mackenzie Hoeg tallied a hat trick. Seven other Cavaliers scored in the game, including Morgan Schwab and Madison Alaimo, who both had one goal and three assists.

Up next, Virginia returns to Charlottesville for its home opener against Stanford on Sunday at 1pm at Klockner Stadium.

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