Virginia Women's Lacrosse Gets Back on Track With 20-9 Win at Cal

Virginia women's lacrosse (3-2, 1-1 ACC) put an emphatic end to its two-game losing streak, using a 9-0 third quarter run to post a dominant 20-9 victory on the road at Cal (2-3, 0-2 ACC) on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. Ten different Cavaliers scored a goal in the game, headlined by Jenna Dinardo with five goals on six shots and Madison Alaimo, who had one goal and four assists.

It was the Golden Bears who got off to the strong start, scoring the game's first two goals in the opening three minutes of the first quarter. Kate Galica and Jenna Dinardo scored unassisted goals to bring the Cavaliers even at 2-2 before Cal scored again to reclaim the lead. Over the final seven minutes of the opening period, it was all Virginia, with five different Cavaliers finding the back of the net, beginning with the first career goal from freshman midfielder Payton Sfreddo.

🚨 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐑 𝐆𝐎𝐀𝐋 🚨
Payton Sfreddo uses her first career goal to tie the game at Cal, 3-3
Watch UVA at Cal live on ACCNX https://t.co/tZyc8gDs5W #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/LumMKzuBbM
— Virginia Women's Lacrosse (@UVAWomensLax) March 1, 2025

Cal regained the upper hand in the flow of play in the second quarter. Despite Virginia winning the draw control battle 4-1 and outshooting Cal 7-4, the Golden Bears actually won the second period 3-2 on the scoreboard. UVA goalie Mel Josephson had a tough outing in between the pipes for the third game in a row, allowing six goals versus just two saves for the entire game. Josephson made zero saves in the second quarter, while Cal's goalie made four saves in the same period. That allowed the Golden Bears to win the quarter and stay very much within striking distance at halftime, trailing Virginia 9-6.

Whatever fiery speech or bigtime adjustments Sonia LaMonica made during the halftime break clearly worked as the Hoos were shot out of a cannon to start the third quarter. Abby Manalang scored in the first 35 seconds of the period and Lauren Pederson found the back of the net less than a minute later. Jenna Dinardo scored three goals in the third quarter alone as part of an utterly dominant 9-0 frame in favor of the Cavaliers. Virginia won all nine draw controls, did not turn the ball over a single time, and outshot Cal 15-2 in the third, with 12 of those shots going on cage. That turned a 9-6 game into an 18-6 game going into the fourth quarter and the game was effectively over. UVA put it in cruise control the rest of the way and left Cal with a 20-9 victory.

Joining Dinardo (five goals) and Alaimo (one goal, four assists) in their multi-point performances were Kate Galica (three goals), Kate Miller (two goals, one assist), Addi Foster (two goals, one assist), Abby Manalang (one goal, one assist), Payton Sfreddo (two goals), Lauren Pederson (two goals), and Fiona Allen (one goal, one assist). Galica added 15 draw controls and Manalang had three caused turnovers to lead the Hoos on defense.

There is some instability in cage for Virginia right now, with Mel Josephson currently unable to keep up her level of play from her breakout year in 2024. Three goalies played against Cal on Saturday for UVA, including Breese Burlingame, who made one save and allowed one goal in her UVA debut, and senior Abby Jansen, who started seven games for Virginia back in 2023, but played sparingly last season and had zero saves versus two goals allowed against Cal. Virginia's goalie situation will be one to monitor closely moving forward.

Up next, Virginia will be on the road again but facing a much closer opponent as the Cavaliers visit Richmond on Wednesday at 7pm ET on ESPN+.

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