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No. 10 UVA Women's Lacrosse Upset by Richmond in Double Overtime

The Cavaliers were upended by the Spiders 16-15 in double overtime on Wednesday night in Richmond

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletics

The No. 10 Virginia women's lacrosse team suffered an upset loss on Wednesday night in Richmond, falling to the Spiders 16-15 in double overtime. 

A few days after taking No. 1-ranked and undefeated North Carolina down to the wire in Chapel Hill, UVA got off to a strong start at Richmond, outscoring the Spiders 3-1 in the opening quarter behind a pair of goals from Ashlyn McGovern. Richmond scored two-straight early in the second to make it 4-3, but the Cavaliers answered back with three quick goals separated by a little over a minute of game time. Richmond ended the first half with a lot of momentum, though, scoring four of the final five goals to close the gap with UVA leading by just a goal at 8-7 at halftime. 

Goals from Mackenzie Hoeg and Jaime Biskup stretched the Virginia lead to 10-7, but then Richmond fired back with four unanswered goals, taking advantage of a 5-3 advantage in draw controls and three Virginia turnovers in the third quarter. Morgan Schwab assisted on a Kate Miller goal to stop the bleeding, sending the game into the fourth quarter tied at 11-11. 

Lindsey Frank and Mackenzie Hoeg alternated goals to open the fourth and then the Spiders rattled off three goals in a row to take a 15-12 lead with six minutes remaining. With their backs up against the walls, the Cavaliers didn't waver, as Morgan Schwab quickly tallied an unassisted goal to draw UVA back within two. The score remained 15-13 for the next few minutes until Ashlyn McGovern scored to give Virginia a chance with just under two minutes left. With only 30 seconds on the clock, McGovern dodged to her right, before rolling back to the middle of the field and firing a lefty shot that found the back of the net for the game-tying goal. 

The first overtime period saw Virginia place four shots on goal, needing just one to get by Richmond goalie Emilie Bloyer to win the game. Instead, Bloyer saved each of the four shots in that overtime period after she made just three saves through all four quarters of regulation. UVA goalie Ashley Vernon made one save in the first overtime as neither team scored and the game went to double overtime. 

Just over a minute into the second overtime period, Arden Tierney faked a pass from the left wing and maneuvered into the middle of the UVA defense before firing a diving shot that found the back of the net, giving Richmond the dramatic 16-15 victory over Virginia. 

Tierney finished with three goals and an assist and four different Richmond players had a hat trick in the game. Shots were dead even at 36 apiece, but Richmond had one more shot on goal than Virginia, which proved to be the difference. 

Ashlyn McGovern led the Cavaliers with five goals on eight shots and Mackenzie Hoeg and Jaime Biskup had three goals apiece. Morgan Schwab had one goal and a season-high six assists. Richmond effectively neutralized UVA's dynamic sophomore Rachel Clark, who had zero goals on four shots and just one assist in the game. Clark had been averaging 3.9 goals and 4.7 points per game coming in. 

“It was a game that had everything from amazing moments to pretty low lows," said UVA head coach Julie Myers. "But it was a really competitive game from start to finish. I give a lot of credit to Richmond. Their key kids really stepped up and made it hard for us to compete and win that game. We were resilient. We showed fight. When we tied it, I really thought we had a chance. I’ve never seen quite so many saves in an overtime period for both goalkeepers. This is obviously a huge disappointment to come up empty and not be able to get the job done today.”

Now 6-2 on the season, Virginia will play a third-consecutive road game at Pittsburgh on Saturday at noon. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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