UVA Women's Lacrosse Collapses Late, Suffers 14-12 Loss to Navy

Virginia women's lacrosse (2-2) went scoreless for the entire fourth quarter and Navy (4-1) ended the game on a 5-0 run to hand the Cavaliers a 14-12 loss on Wednesday night at Klockner Stadium.

Looking to bounce back from Saturday's 13-7 loss to Stanford in the ACC opener on Saturday, the Cavaliers started the game well enough, getting back-to-back goals from Kate Galica and a third from Jenna Dinardo to take a 3-0 lead. UVA held Navy to just one goal on four shots in the opening period and Galica scored a third goal to make it 4-1 in favor of the Hoos at the end of the first quarter.

Navy figured something out on the offensive end to start the second quarter and started shelling Virginia goalkeeper Mel Josephson with quality shots. The Midshipmen scored three of the first four goals in the second to get back within one goal before Dinardo scored twice and then assisted on a goal from Galica to push the lead back to 8-4. Navy scored again to make the halftime score 8-5.

Virginia stretched its lead back to four goals at 10-6 on a goal by Dinardo, but then Navy scored the next three goals in a span of just over a minute, with each goal coming from a different player to make it 10-9. Kate Miller and Madison Alaimo found the back of the net for the Cavaliers to restore their lead to 12-9 with 3:05 left to go in the third quarter, but Virginia would never score again, going the final 18 minutes and five seconds of regulation without finding the back of the net.

Emily Messinese scored to make it 12-10 going into the fourth quarter and after Navy scored twice in the first five minutes of the fourth to make it 12-12, Messinese scored again to give the Midshipmen their first lead of the game with 4:40 to go. Messinese then assisted on a goal by Ava Yovino to make it 14-12.

It was a forgettable night in cage for Josephson, who allowed 12 goals versus just four saves and was pulled from the game with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter in favor of Abby Jansen, who allowed two goals and made one save in relief. Contrast that with Navy's goalkeeper Felicia Giglio, who stood on her head with 10 saves, including one to deny Jenna Dinardo on a free position shot with less than two minutes to go. Giglio was also incredibly active out of the cage, scooping six ground balls and causing four turnovers, including a big one late in the fourth quarter where she came well out of her crease to intercept a pass when Virginia was trying to tie the game.

It's a tough second-straight loss for Virginia to fall to 2-2 on the season. Jenna Dinardo had six points on four goals and two assists and Kate Galica scored four goals on four shots, but the Cavaliers fell apart down the stretch on that end of the field.

Up next, Virginia will travel to the West Coast to take on California on Saturday at 3pm ET and the game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

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