Virginia Cavaliers women's lacrosse — Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

No. 16 Virginia Women's Lacrosse Escapes Louisville With 12-11 Victory

The Cavaliers picked up their first ACC road win of the season on Saturday

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Mar 27, 2022 12:20 AM EDT

Allegra Catalano and the Louisville Cardinals gave the Cavaliers everything they could handle, but No. 16 Virginia made several key plays down the stretch and hung on for a hard-fought 12-11 victory at Louisville on Saturday afternoon.

UVA dominated the opening ten minutes of the game, as Ashlyn McGovern scored two goals and Kiki Shaw added a third to give the Cavaliers an early 3-0 lead. Louisville got two back on goals from Nicole Perroni and Paige Richbourg, but Rachel Clark scored with 17 seconds left to make it 4-2 Virginia at the end of the first quarter.

Four UVA turnovers and a 5-1 advantage in ground balls for Louisville allowed the Cardinals to dominate time of possession in the second quarter. Louisville held Virginia scoreless in the second period and outscored the Cavaliers 3-0 to take a 5-4 halftime lead. Allegra Catalano scored two of her team-leading five goals in the second quarter.

Catalano added another goal to start the third quarter to cap off a 4-0 Louisville run to make it 6-4. Virginia finally stopped the bleeding as Morgan Schwab fed Braeden Dial for a goal, but Catalano scored another goal just two minutes later.

Trailing by two goals on the road, the Wahoos showed some toughness and responded with a four-goal run of their own, with each goal coming from a different scorer. Rachel Clark and Kate Miller scored to tie the game and then Ashlyn McGovern tallied an unassisted goal to put UVA back in front. Mackenzie Hoeg made it 9-7 with five minutes left in the third, but Allegra Catalano answered with yet another goal. Louisville's Hannah Morris added a goal to tie the game at 9-9 heading into the final period.

Rachel Clark scored early in the fourth to put UVA on top and neither team scored for nearly ten minutes after that. Kate Miller scored with just under six minutes to play to make it 11-9, but Louisville's Nicole Perroni responded with a goal thirty seconds later. Braeden Dial scored a clutch goal for Virginia to make it 12-10. The Cardinals got back within one on a goal by Paige Richbourg with just over three minutes remaining, but the UVA defense stood tall down the stretch and held on for the 12-11 win.

Virginia goalkeeper Ashley Vernon made four big-time saves in the fourth quarter to protect the slim lead and seal the win. Vernon made 12 saves in the game as compared to just three saves for Louisville goalie Sara Addeche.

Ashlyn McGovern and Rachel Clark each scored three goals and Braeden Dial and Kate Miller had two goals apiece to lead the Cavaliers.

The win was Virginia's first ACC road victory of the season and improved UVA's record to 6-6 overall and 2-3 in ACC play. The Cavaliers face a tough test next week as they head to Durham to take on No. 8 Duke on Saturday at 1pm.

Read more from Cavaliers Now