Virginia Women's Lacrosse Has Historic Season Ended by Florida in NCAA 2nd Round

The Virginia women's lacrosse team's historic first season under Sonia LaMonica has come to an end. After rolling past LIU 21-6 in the first round on Friday, the Cavaliers simply couldn't overcome a drastic disparity in the draw circle.

Thanks largely to its 19-6 advantage in draw controls, the Gators jumped out to a 5-2 lead and kept the UVA offense at bay for most of the game, as No. 5 seed Virginia (15-5) was eliminated from tournament contention with a 13-8 loss to Florida (19-2) in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship on Sunday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.

The draw control has been UVA's biggest weakness all season long. Against a Florida team that boasts one of the best draw control specialists in the sport in Liz Harrison, who ranks among the national leaders in career draw control wins, it was predictable that the Cavaliers would find themselves at a distinct possession disadvantage in this game.

Sure enough, Florida won seven of the eight first-quarter draws, outshot Virginia 8-4 in the period, and even three big early saves from Mel Josephson couldn't stop the Gators from racing out to a 5-2 lead after the opening period.

Florida again won the draws 5-1 in the second quarter, but UVA's defense limited the Gators to only two shots in that period thanks to seven Florida turnovers and a 5-1 edge in groundballs for the Cavaliers. That evened the playing field a little bit and Virginia was able to work back into the game, as goals from Kiki Shaw, Kate Galica, Mackenzie Hoeg, and Katia Carnevale made it 7-6 Florida at halftime.

Jenna Dinardo scored early in the third quarter to tie the game at 7-7 and momentum was fully on the side of Virginia. But the Cavaliers wouldn't score again until more than 23 minutes later. The entire third quarter was a defensive stalemate, with the Gators going scoreless until a goal from Ashley Gonzalez made it 8-7 Florida entering the fourth quarter.

Florida turned that into a 6-0 run, completely dominating Virginia in the fourth quarter to seize control of the game. A goal from Katia Carnevale finally ended UVA's long drought and made it 13-8 with two and a half minutes to go, but it was too little, too late.

Florida ultimately held a 19-6 advantage in draw controls and used it to outshoot Virginia 26-22, putting 24 of those shots on goal. Mel Josephson stopped 11 of those shots, but was barraged with quality shots from start to finish.

Mackenzie Hoeg and Katie Carnevale scored two goals apiece as Virginia's leading scorers. Morgan Schwab was face-guarded by Florida throughout the game and managed one goal and two assists in her final game as a Cavalier.

“There was a stalemate there for a little bit. I think at the end of the day, we had some opportunities, and we just didn’t finish some shots that we had to finish. That might have helped shift that momentum," said UVA head coach Sonia LaMonica after the game. "But you could see in that period where it was back and forth, both defenses were standing on their heads. Credit to the defensive unit, I thought our defensive switch up was really effective. I think we just came up a little short in capitalizing on a few offensive opportunities. That would have made a difference for us today.”

Virginia concludes the season with a 15-5 overall record, its highest win total since the 2007 season.