No. 11 Virginia Claims Commonwealth Clash With 15-10 Win vs. Virginia Tech

Rachel Clark recorded five goals and two assists to lead the Cavaliers over the Hokies in the regular season finale

That's another point for UVA in the Commonwealth Clash. 

The Cavaliers came out a little flat-footed to start the game, but behind a big third quarter in which they outscored the Hokies 6-2, No. 11 Virginia women's lacrosse took down Virginia Tech 15-10 in the regular season finale on Thursday night at Klockner Stadium. 

Virginia Tech twice led in the first quarter thanks to a pair of goals from Olivia Vergano, who was essentially her team's entire offense on Thursday night, scoring three of the Hokies' four first-half goals and finishing five goals for the game. UVA answered each time with unassisted goals by Jaime Biskup and Rachel Clark, who then assisted on a Mackenzie Hoeg goal to give Virginia a 3-2 lead at the end of the opening period. 

Virginia had a significant possession advantage right from the start, winning eight of the 11 draw controls in the first half. But the pace of play favored the Hokies, who successfully slowed the game down to prevent the Hoos from getting into an offensive rhythm. 

"I think tonight they were a little bit tight, our sticks were a little bit sticky and a little bit glitchy," said Virginia head coach Julie Myers after the game. "We were in the right spots, but we just weren't smooth with how we were playing. But luckily the draw was really important, so in the first half when nothing else was going well, the draw always gave us hope and some possessions."

Clark found the back of the net again to start the second quarter as UVA temporarily seized momentum, but the Cavaliers couldn't capitalize, scoring only one more goal in the period as Virginia Tech goalie Jocelyn Torres made six saves in the first half. That wiped out UVA's possession advantage, as the halftime score was a slim 5-4 lead for Virginia despite the Cavaliers outshooting the Hokies 14-9 in the first half and 11-7 in terms of shots on goal. 

As they have so many times this season, the Cavaliers found a different gear to open the second half and they did so despite the possession battle evening out. UVA had only a 5-4 advantage in draw controls in the third quarter and shots were tied at six apiece in the period. The difference was goalkeeping, as UVA goalie Abby Jansen made three saves in the period as compared to zero for Torres. 

Virginia scored three-straight goals to open the third quarter, with Biskup feeding Taylor Mullen for the first goal and then scoring herself before Hoeg scored her third goal of the game to give UVA an 8-4 lead. 

Virginia Tech ended that run with a goal from Ella Rishko off a pass from Paige Tyson, but a big save from Abby Jansen prevented the Hokies from stringing a run together, leading to a goal for UVA as Rachel Clark blew past her defender and scored to complete her hat trick. 

"It's definitely adjustments, but also just relaxing ourselves... and just grounding ourselves back to the team we know we are," said Rachel Clark of UVA's improvements coming out of halftime this season. 

The Cavaliers and Hokies exchanged goals after that, but UVA got goals from Morgan Schwab and Kate Miller to go ahead 11-6 at the end of the third quarter. 

Virginia Tech wouldn't go away easily, as Rishko and Vergano scored in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to get back within three goals. The Cavaliers responded with two goals of their own with Kiki Shaw and Clark answering to push the UVA lead back to five. 

With Tewaaraton Top 25 Nominee Ashlyn McGovern having an uncharacteristically quiet night with zero goals on three shots, Rachel Clark put on a show on the offensive end to make up the slack, providing a constant source of point production from start to finish. Clark had three goals and an assist in the second half alone and finished with five goals and two assists and also contributed six draw controls. 

"Especially coming off a disappointing loss, we needed to prove a point this game and especially going into the tournament," Clark said. 

Clark scored her fifth goal with 34 seconds left to put the finishing touches on Virginia's 15-10 victory. Mackenzie Hoeg and Jaime Biskup each had a hat trick and Morgan Schwab had one goal and three assists. Abby Jansen had a quality night in between the pipes with eight saves versus 10 goals allowed. 

The victory earns a point for the Cavaliers in the 2022-2023 Commonwealth Clash, which UVA now leads 10-8. See the full list of events and scores for the 2022-2023 Commonwealth Clash here.

UVA is now 26-3 all-time against Virginia Tech and has taken nine of the last 11 meetings with the Hokies. 

Virginia concludes the regular season with an 11-5 record, including a 6-3 mark in ACC play. UVA has earned the No. 4 seed in the ACC Women's Lacrosse Championship and will face No. 5 seed Notre Dame in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, April 26th at 1:30pm at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

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