VCU lacrosse falls to Virginia, 18-12

Thailon Wilson, Staff Writer

VCU women’s lacrosse lost against the No. 12 ranked University of Virginia Cavaliers in a high scoring inner-state matchup between both schools.

UVA is about an hour away from VCU, so fans dawning the blue and orange came to cheer on the Cavaliers in an away game at Cary Street Field. However, they weren’t the only fans, as the Rams also had a good turnout of fans of all ages who came to cheer on the Rams.

VCU women’s lacrosse head coach Nicole Flores said it was nice to have fans who wanted to see VCU clash against a fellow Virginia school in a competitive match. 

“The crowd makes an environment, so the more you can hear the fans, you can get a rally going,” Flores said.

Everyone took their seats after the National Anthem played, and the first quarter of the matchup went underway. 

With the game just starting, VCU senior attacker Meghan McLaughlin scored the first goal of the game with 14 minutes left in the first quarter to give the Rams the early 1-0 lead against the Cavaliers.

The crowd cheered for the black and gold, but shortly after UVA junior midfielder Mackenzie Hoeg scored to equalize the game and made the score 1-1 with 12 minutes left in the first quarter.

The passing continued until one of the tall attackers entered the middle right in front of the goal in position to shoot and score. 

After catching the ball, the attacker used the momentum of the pass and their sprinting to tap the ball into the net in quick succession. 

This strategy helped UVA sophomore midfielder Abby Manalang to score another goal.

The Rams and Cavaliers continued to go back and forth in scoring until the final whistle of the first quarter blew with the game tied up at 5-5.

VCU senior attacker Julianna George had two goals in the first quarter. Julianna George said the opportunities to score appeared and she wanted to slot them away.

“When we see the opportunity, just make sure we took full advantage and put it away,” Julianna George said.

In the second quarter, UVA was able to amass a huge lead by starting off the second quarter on a 5-0 run for the first 11 minutes of the second quarter to give them a 10-5 lead. 

Julianna George and VCU junior midfielder Kelsey McDonnell scored two goals to lessen the lead but at the end of the first half, UVA was up 11-7.

In similar fashion to the second quarter, UVA continued to have a high scoring output in the third quarter. 

This alongside their ability to minimize the goal scoring efforts of the Rams led them to go on a 4-1 run which gave them a comfortable 15-8 lead going into the fourth quarter. 

The trend of the fourth quarter went back to being a dogfight between the Rams and the Cavaliers with VCU sophomore attacker Mia George scoring the first goal of the quarter with 11 minutes left in the game. 

UVA graduate student attacker Ashlyn McGovern scored right afterwards to increase the lead back to 16-9 with nine minutes left in the game. 

VCU junior midfielder Kelsey McDonnell scored her third goal of the game seconds afterwards to lower the UVA lead to 16-10.

McDonnell said the matchups for her and Julianna George were advantageous and the opportunities the team provided allowed them to score these goals.

“I think we had very good matchups and working with other people on the team created more opportunities that we were able to finish,” McDonnell said.

At the end of the high-octane back and forth game, the lead that the Cavaliers garnered during the second and third quarter was too much to come back from and UVA defeated VCU, 18-12.

Flores said the game was a fun one for the team to have played against a ranked opponent and earned some confidence heading into the final push of the season.

“I think this game in particular is so much fun, because you know for us it’s a win-win,” Flores said. “We got to play a ranked team and tried our best, but I think it gives us confidence going into our final A-10 games.”