Virginia Women's Lacrosse Falls to Albany 16-14 in NCAA First Round

After leading 10-3 in the third quarter, the Cavaliers were outscored 13-4 by the Great Danes for the remainder of the game as UVA's season came to an end

The 2023 Virginia women's lacrosse season came to an end with a brutal loss on Friday night in Denver. The Cavaliers built a 10-3 lead midway through the third quarter, but were outscored by the Great Danes 13-4 for the remainder of the game as Albany staged a massive comeback to defeat Virginia 16-14 in the first round of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship. 

Goals from Ashlyn McGovern and Mackenzie Hoeg and two goals from Jaime Biskup gave the Cavaliers a 4-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. UVA's defense held Albany scoreless in the second quarter thanks to four caused turnovers and two saves from goalie Abby Jansen. Rachel Clark scored twice and Biskup found the back of the net for the third time with 47 seconds left in the half to give Virginia a 7-3 lead at halftime. 

The run continued for the Cavaliers with three more goals to start the third quarter with Morgan Schwab, Kiki Shaw, and Clark scoring in the first four minutes of the period to give UVA a 10-3 advantage. 

But then, Virginia's defense, which has been the Achilles' heel of the team all season long, began to falter. Albany's Grace McCauley scored unassisted to stop the UVA run and that sparked the turnaround for the Great Danes, who won the next three draw controls to play make it, take it. Sarah Falk was the catalyst for the Albany comeback, scoring seven goals in just the second half. The Great Danes rattled off four-straight goals and nine of the next ten goals to completely change the trajectory of the game. Albany scored twice in the last 30 seconds of the third to make it just a one-goal game entering the final quarter. 

A goal from Mackenzie Hoeg temporarily settled things down for Virginia, leading 12-10, but Albany then went on another 5-0 run to take a 15-12 lead with less than five minutes to play. Morgan Schwab assisted on goals by Kate Miller and Ashlyn McGovern to pull the Cavaliers back to within one goal at 15-14. But Albany won the ensuing draw control and played keep away and Shonly Wallace eventually scored on an empty net with 23 seconds left to ice the game. 

Albany held a slim 18-16 advantage in draw controls for the game, leading to a 35-31 shots advantage and a 23-21 edge in shots on goal. Ultimately, the Hoos just couldn't get enough stops on the defensive end and couldn't get timely goals on the offensive end during Albany's big game-changing run in the second half. 

Rachel Clark and Jaime Biskup each tallied a hat trick, Mackenzie Hoeg had three goals and an assist, Ashlyn McGovern had two goals and an assist, and Morgan Schwab recorded one goal and six assists. 

Virginia concludes the 2023 season with an 11-7 overall record. 

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