The University of Virginia women’s lacrosse team has been through so much pain and grief the past two weeks since the tragic murder of 4th year Yeardley Love. Today, they returned to the field of play, as they won their first-round game against Towson 14-12.
Before the game began, the atmosphere was lively and positive in the stands and on the field as the players went through their pre-game routines. Much more upbeat then the men’s game the evening before. That game had a pall of humidity and sadness as no one was joking around before or after the contest. The press box was eerily quiet and tense. Not even wisecracker extraordinaire Doug Doughty was making jokes before the game. Or after it for that matter.
Yeardley Love’s family was in the stands rooting on their beloved Hoos. Towson’s players all wore orange and blue sweatbands on their arms with the initials Y.L on them. Very cool of them to do that in my opinion.
Virginia started off the game on fire, as London, England’s Charlie Finnigan scored the very first just 12 seconds into the match en root to a 3-0 start. Finnigan is the women’s lax teams first International player to play for the University.
I sat next to the Towson Athletic Director Mike Hermann, who said to me before the game that these two teams were very even on paper and they had played a lot of the same teams very similarly. Boy, was he right.
Towson battled back and the score was UVA 8, Towson 7 at the half. Virginia Coach Julie Myers said after the game that the team was tired after the first half and really need to focus all their collective energy in order to win the game. She said that all the emotions of playing a game like this were very difficult for her team to face, but that they were up to the task. Going on and playing hard to the end is what Yeardley would have wanted.
In the second half it was a very tight contest, but Virginia found a way to get the win. Coach Myers said that it was very important for the team to win this game so that they could stay together for another critical week. Coach Starsia mentioned the exact same sentiment the day before as his men’s team shellacked Mount Saint Mary’s 18-4.
Towson was led by Jacie Kendall who scored 4 goals. Nikki Marcinik, and Hillary Fratzke also chipped in 3 goals a piece for the Tigers. Towson committed 12 more fouls (22-10) than the Wahoos. Both teams grabbed 16 ground balls a piece. Towson out-shot UVA 29-26.
Virginia’s Caity Whiteley, Julie Gardner, and Charlie Finnigan all scored 3 goals in the win. Brittany Kalkstein, and Kaitlin Duff both scored twice in the contest. Goalkeeper Lauren Benner gave up 12 goals with 9 saves.
As the game was tied at 12 in the waning minutes, Yeardley Love’s family walked down from their seats in the stadium and made their way to the field of play. As soon as they reached the field, Julie Myers said after the game, that she felt like they brought a great sense of positive energy to her and to the team. As the Hoos scored the final two goals to win the game by two, the Love’s were right there on the sideline cheering as loudly as anyone in the stands. A great moment for all to see.
At the end of the game, as Virginia celebrated and ran on to the field, each person associated with the Virginia Lacrosse team grabbed a white laminated #1 and raised it to the sky in gleeful jubilation. What a wonderful sight to see.
Congrats Ladies, you did us all proud today. I’m not sure I have ever been more proud of a UVA team in all my years of cheering for the Wahoos.
Go Hoos! The Virginia women advance to next weekend’s quarterfinal round to play UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. The exact day and time will be set by the NCAA at a later time.
