NCAA Rewind: Virginia's Best Season in More Than 15 Years

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

VIRGINIA

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 20/No. 10
2024 record: 15-5 (6-3 ACC)

What went right: The era of new head coach Sonia LaMonica got off to a roaring start with wins in nine of the Cavaliers’ first 10 games. Their only loss came in overtime against North Carolina, and they picked up key wins over Stanford, Princeton, Notre Dame and James Madison.

Virginia knocked off Boston College in overtime for some huge momentum before heading into the ACC tournament, where it reached the semifinals by avenging a regular-season loss to UNC. Seeded fifth in the NCAA tournament — their best seeding since 2008 — the Cavs crushed LIU in the opener before falling to Florida in a second-round upset. It was only the third time all season they were held to single-digit goals. Their 15 wins was the most since 2007.

Virginia showed balance on offense with seven players with at least 43 points. Katia Carnevale, a graduate transfer from Lehigh, was a great addition, as she paced all goal scorers with 53, and Mackenzie Hoeg’s 49 was just behind her. Seven players had at least 20 goals. UVA career assist holder Morgan Schwab’s 61 assists were five short of the school single-season record and the third-team USA Lacrosse All-America’s 81 points led the team.

Kate Galica was tops on the draw control with 97 and named ACC Freshman of the Year. Maggie Bostain joined Schwab and Hoeg as IWLCA All-Americans after leading the Hoos with 30 caused turnovers. Mel Josephson jumped into the starting role and had a .446 save percentage. 

Freshmen like Galica, Madison Alaimo, Kate Demark, Jenna Dinardo and Addi Foster were able to make an immediate impact and provide a strong foundation for the future. 

What went wrong: A pair of losses to Syracuse won’t sit well. In the first matchup in the regular season, Virginia led the back-and-forth contest going into the fourth quarter only to fall by a goal. The rematch, though, was a huge letdown. It was all Syracuse. The Orange jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter and finished with a 22-3 draw control advantage in a 19-4 drubbing.

The draw controls in the loss to Syracuse was something of an issue all year. Florida won 19 of 25 in Virginia’s season-ending loss. Virginia won just 44 percent during the season to rank 100th in the country, and that put extra pressure on the offense to be more efficient. The Cavs’ 13.45 fouls per game was also higher than they wanted to rank 65th, leading to some more disadvantages in possession and play.

Season highlight: First-year starters made memories for all when Alaimo finished a feed from Carnevale for a 13-12 overtime win over eventual national champion Boston College. Alaimo and Galica accounted for the final three goals by the Hoos, who rallied from 9-8, 11-10 and 12-11 deficits to force overtime. Virginia had held an 8-3 lead behind Josephson’s six first-half saves on her way to 10 for the game. The win was their second over a top-five team after also beating Notre Dame a month earlier.

Verdict: Nobody was sure what to expect in the first season after legendary coach Julie Myers retired. LaMonica helped Virginia to their most wins and best NCAA seed in more than 15 years — not a bad starting point. She’s hoping it’s enough of a foundation to build on because a strong senior class that includes Schwab, Carnevale, Hoeg, Bostain, Kiki Shaw and Devin Whitaker will be moving on.