Cavaliers Come Up Short At North Carolina
Posted on Saturday, May. 18, 2019, 3:16 pm
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The most successful season in five years for the Virginia women’s lacrosse program came to an end in Chapel Hill Saturday, as the sixth-seeded Cavaliers came up short, 14-7, against No. 3 North Carolina in the NCAA quarterfinal round.
The Wahoos were looking for their first trip to the national semifinals since 2014, but a long scoring drought combined with 11 straight UNC goals brought the season to a close. UVA finished with a record of 13-7.
Virginia’s offense was clicking early on. After a pair of early Charlie Campbell saves, junior midfielder Nora Bowen scored the game’s first goal with 25:04 on the first-half clock.
UVA controlled possession on the ensuing draw, and Bowen was fouled while streaking up the field. Bowen scored again on a free-position shot — her 30th of the year — to double the early advantage.
Carolina’s Scottie Rose Growney, who scored four goals in the Tar Heels’ second-round victory over Florida last week, got her team on the board before UVA first-year midfielder Lillie Kloak fired one home to make it 3-1 with 19:16 left in the half.
Virginia would not score again for 35 minutes and 15 seconds. The Heels quickly tied it up and then pulled ahead 4-3 on a Gianna Bowe bouncer through Campbell’s legs with 5:34 until halftime, and never looked back.
Carolina star Jamie Ortega scored her 74th goal of the season before Elizabeth Hillman’s goal gave the home team a 6-3 edge at the break. Campbell made consecutive saves in the final moments to keep the deficit at three.
The Heels scored six more times to start the second half, stretching their lead to 12-3 with 14:43 to play. Senior attacker Angie Loynaz had a chance to kill the momentum and get the ‘Hoos within four at the 25:45 mark, but her shot hit the crossbar.
Loynaz finally stopped the bleeding on a free-position tally with 14:01 left, and then Avery Shoemaker — the team’s leading scorer on the season — under-handed one past UNC keeper Taylor Moreno with 11:30 to go, but that only trimmed the Carolina lead to seven, 12-5.
Shoemaker added another, her 52nd of the year and last as a Cavalier, less than three minutes later, and junior Sammy Mueller capped the scoring with her only goal of the day (48th of the year) with 5:43 to play.
The ACC champion Heels advanced to the semifinals for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Ortega, Growney and Bowe each registered a hat trick to lead the way for UNC. Moreno made 12 saves for the Heels.
For Virginia, senior midfielder Maggie Jackson dished out a pair of assists in her final contest as a Wahoo. Campbell also finished the contest with a dozen stops.
