Virginia tops USC to advance to NCAA Second Round

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Sophomore Morgan Schwab tied a UVA single-game record with seven assists as No. 15 Virginia (10-9) won 13-11 over No. 18 USC (13-5) on Friday afternoon at Dorrance Field.

Schwab had an assist on five of UVA’s first six goals of the game. Freshman Rachel Clark led Virginia with four goals and one assist, freshman Kate Miller had three goals and an assist and redshirt senior Ashlyn McGovern had three goals. Junior Ashley Vernon finished with eight saves in the net for the Cavaliers.

UVA led 30-25 in shots and both teams finished with 11 ground balls. USC had a 14-13 edge in draw controls. The Cavaliers were 20-for-20 in clears.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Virginia went on a 7-0 run after USC scored the first goal of the game.
• Schwab assisted five of UVA’s first seven goals and six of the first seven were assisted.
• Clark scored the first goal for the Cavaliers to tie it up 1-1.
• Schwab connected with Miller for back-to-back goals, then she found sophomore Mackenzie Hoeg to put UVA up 3-1.
• Clark assisted McGovern’s first goal of the afternoon.
• Schwab then connected with junior Jaime Biskup to two-straight goals as UVA took a 7-1 lead.
• The Trojans scored five-straight to close out the second quarter to cut it to 7-6 at halftime. The Cavaliers had held USC scoreless for nearly 10 minutes before the 6-0 run.
• USC tied it up 7-7 coming out of the half.
• UVA stopped the run with a goal from Miller as Schwab notched her sixth assist of the afternoon.
• McGovern scored her second to give the Cavaliers a 9-7 lead with 6:07 to go in the third quarter. UVA led 9-8 heading into the final quarter.
• Virginia extended its lead to 11-8 with the first two goals of the second quarter.
• Schwab tied the UVA single-game record with her seventh assist of the afternoon on Clark’s goal to make it 10-8.
• McGovern picked up a ground ball in front of the net to give the Cavaliers a 12-9 lead with 8:12 remaining.
• Clark scored on the assist from Miller to keep UVA up by three. The Trojans scored the final goal with three seconds to play.

FROM HEAD COACH JULIE MYERS

“It is a huge opportunity to come in and play a quality team like USC. I am glad that we had just enough to come out on top. I think there were some things we did really well and others we need to address on film and learn from them as we move forward in this tournament. Super proud of the girls to be one of 16 teams still playing and really excited for the opportunity.”

UP NEXT

Virginia will play 1-seed North Carolina on Sunday, May 15 at noon at Dorrance Field.