Third-seeded Virginia defeated fifth-seeded Virginia Tech, 18-6, in the second first-round games on the opening day of the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship this afternoon at Ludwig Field in College Park, Md. Senior midfielders Brittany Kalkstein and Kaitlin Duff each scored four goals to lead the Cavaliers to their seventh consecutive victory.
Virginia improves to 13-3 (4-1 ACC) and advances to Friday's second semifinal game against No. 2-seed Maryland (14-1, 4-1 ACC). The loss concludes the Hokies' season 6-11 (0-5 ACC).
"I am really pleased to score 18 goals and hold an impressive attack to six [goals]," said Julie Myers. I thought we came out strong and played with a lot of intensity and did a good job to maintain that intensity.
Three Cavaliers had hat tricks in the first half as sophomore midfielder Julie Gardner, Kalkstein, and Duff each netted three goals before the intermission, carrying Virginia to an 11-2 lead at halftime.
Sophomore midfielder Jessica Nonn scored once in the first half—at the 6:02 mark—and posted two more in the second half to account for half of the Hokies' scoring.
Virginia junior goalie Lauren Brenner logged 55 minutes in the creese, making five saves and allowing five goals. Virginia Tech freshmen goalies Alex Gale and Alexis Carey split time between the pipes, with Gale recording two saves and allowing 11 scores, and Carey making three stops and allowing seven goals.
"We had a week and a half off and we were just ready to play again," Kalkstein said. "We went back to the basics and drilled the fundamentals in practice. The last time we played them we didn't play as well as we wanted to and this time we wanted to come out with a little extra motivation to play strong."
The Cavaliers outshot Virginia Tech, 29-20, and held a 21-5 draw controls advantage. UVa advances to take on Maryland tomorrow at 5 p.m. in second-round action. The Terrapins defeated Virginia, 11-5, on March 5th in College Park; however, the game was decided on the Terps' lacrosse field across campus.