McGovern Leads No. 10 UVA Women's Lacrosse to 16-7 Win Over Clemson

Ashlyn McGovern matched a career-high with seven goals to lead Virginia over Clemson on Friday night

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

It may have been a cold and rainy night in Charlottesville, but the conditions were just fine for Ashlyn McGovern. 

On a night that Virginia's star sophomore attack Rachel Clark was held to just one goal after scoring 20 goals through the first four games, it was the veteran grad student Ashlyn McGovern who picked up the slack. McGovern put on a dazzling performance, matching a career-high with seven goals to lead the No. 10 Virginia women's lacrosse team to a 16-7 victory over Clemson on a rainy Friday night at Klockner Stadium. 

The inaugural season of Clemson women's lacrosse has gotten off to a great start as the Tigers went 4-1 through their first five games at the Division I level. The Tigers also showed that they were not fazed by the tenth-ranked Cavaliers early on in their first-ever meeting, as Emma Tilson scored back-to-back goals to give Clemson a 2-1 lead after UVA's Mackenzie Hoeg scored the opening goal. Kate Miller fed Rachel Clark for a goal to make it 2-2 at the end of the first quarter.  

That would be the first and only goal for Clark, the reigning ACC Freshman of the Year who had been averaging five goals per game this season coming into this matchup. But Ashlyn McGovern quickly showed that she was more than willing to shoulder the offensive load, scoring four-straight goals to start the second quarter. Jaime Biskup followed that up with a goal of her own to make it six-consecutive goals for the Cavaliers to grab a 7-2 lead. Clemson's Paris Masaracchia temporarily stopped the bleeding with a goal, but Morgan Schwab and Jaime Biskup scored two more goals to give UVA a 9-3 halftime lead. Virginia outshot Clemson 14-5 in the second quarter, with 12 of those shots going on goal. 

Morgan Schwab opened the third quarter with a goal and Sofia Chepenik responded with a goal for Clemson. McGovern scored her fifth of the game and Chepenik answered again, but McGovern scored once again to put Virginia ahead 12-5 going into the fourth quarter. 

McGovern added her seventh and final goal off of an assist from Rachel Clark early in the fourth quarter. Clemson responded with back-to-back goals from Ella Little and Emma Tilson to get back within six with 11 minutes to go, but the Cavaliers would hold the Tigers scoreless the rest of the way and scored the final three goals of the game from Morgan Schwab, Kiki Shaw, and Abby Manalang, making the final score 16-7. 

Ashley Vernon was spectacular in between the pipes for Virginia, giving up just seven goals and making 11 saves for a .611 save percentage. Ashlyn McGovern powered the Virginia offense with seven goals on 10 shots, but Morgan Schwab was excellent as well with five points on three goals and two assists. Rachel Clark added one goal and two assists, Jaime Biskup had two goals and an assist, and four other Cavaliers scored goals. Aubrey Williams recorded eight draw controls to help Virginia hold a 15-12 advantage in that category. 

Now 5-0 and 2-0 in ACC play, UVA will be back in action on Sunday with a non-conference game against Elon at 12pm at Klockner Stadium. 

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