New Faces Help Lead Resurgent Virginia Squad

SPARKS, Md. — Less than 48 hours after losing an emotional overtime game at home to rival North Carolina, Virginia’s women’s lacrosse team was right back to work. A trip to USA Lacrosse headquarters to face unbeaten Cornell awaited.

Cornell jumped on the Cavaliers early, scoring the first two goals of the game – both goals coming by Maggie Pons on assists from Kylie Gelabert – but No. 15 Virginia quickly reset by scoring four straight goals and ended up pouring in 14 in the first half of a 20-11 victory over the Big Red.

“Obviously when you go down, you’re aware of it,” said attacker Katia Carnevale. “But, it’s not really like, oh we need to catch up. It’s just, let’s turn it on and play our game.”

Carnavale scored all six of her points, four goals and two assists, in the first half to help lead the Virginia offense, and the Lehigh grad transfer was far from the only newcomer to play a big role for first-year head coach Sonia LaMonica.

Kate Demark, a member of the U.S. Women’s U20 training team, is starting on defense. Madison Alaimo, a freshman and past member of the USA Lacrosse National Team Development Program, had four goals against Cornell. Freshman Kate Galica had a goal and team-high eight draw controls and freshman Jenna Dinardo had two goals and two assists.

Virginia’s veterans are also holding up their end of things. Senior Morgan Schwab directed the offense, scoring a behind-the-back goal to go along with her six assists. Senior Mackenzie Hoeg had four goals, junior Kate Miller had a hat trick and senior Maggie Bostain had six draw controls.

 

 

 

 

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The mix of new and old has led to a 4-1 start for the Cavaliers. The near miss against Carolina would have been UVa’s first win over the Tar Heels since 2015.

“It’s easy when you’ve got a great group of girls and they’re very open-minded and tight-knit,” said LaMonica, who won 139 games in 14 seasons as Towson’s head coach. “Everybody’s working hard together and we’re having fun, so there’s lots of positive energy. We’re using that to our advantage.”

The offense paced the way in the first half, but Virginia’s defense tightened up in the second half. Sophomore goalie Mel Josephson made five of her seven saves in the second half and Cornell committed 10 second-half turnovers.

“Part of the strategy was to apply some pressure as our opponents were coming over the 30 and see how they handle it,” LaMonica said. “I thought our group did a great job and it takes a lot of work coming off of a Friday game.”

Cornell, which had opened the season with wins over Cal and Le Moyne and is looking to make a push in what feels like a wide-open Ivy League race, was very much in the game early. The Big Red trailed just 6-5 after a Gelabert goal early in the second quarter, but Carnavale’s third goal of the game kicked off a four-goal Virginia run and the Big Red were forced to try and play catch-up the rest of the way.

Carnavale scored 156 goals in her four seasons at Lehigh, including 97 the last two years. Her four goals on Sunday gave her 13 in her first five games with Virginia. She’s had little trouble adjusting to the new environment.

“It's been pretty seamless,” Carnavale said. “I think on and off the field we get along really well, and we push each other. We all have the same goal in mind, so it's been great.”

That goal is returning Virginia to the top of the ACC and national pecking order. Friday’s game against North Carolina was a missed opportunity, but the Cavaliers have another chance coming up this weekend when they head to unbeaten No. 20 Clemson.

Elsewhere in the Top 20

No. 3 James Madison fell behind UAlbany 4-1 early and led just 9-7 at the half before breaking out in the second half for a 21-12 victory. The Dukes, who played without star Isabella Peterson due to a red card a win over Towson, are now 5-0 and have scored at least 15 goals in all five wins, with today’s 21 a season-high. Maddie Epke and Katelyn Morgan each scored five goals.

No. 6 North Carolina dominated High Point 23-3 led by Ashley Humphrey’s team-high eight points (2g, 6a). Eleven different Tar Heels scored in the game and UNC had assists on 17 of its 23 goals.

No. 9 Denver scored nine goals in the first quarter and went on to an 18-8 victory over San Diego State. Julia Gilbert led the Pioneers with four goals and added a pair of an assists.