April 29, 1997

No. 2 Women's Lacrosse Ends Season with 14-4 Record, Awaits NCAA Bid

Last Week's Games:
Game 17: #2 Virginia 18, Virginia Tech 2
Twelve Cavaliers scored on a rain-soaked Turf field. Heather Patton (West Chester, Pa./W.C. Henderson) opened the scoring just 16 seconds into the game and added another goal three minutes later off a pass from Kara Ariza (Landsdowne, Pa./Penn Wood). Ariza then scored off a pass from 1997 ACC Rookie of the Year Amy Fromal (Folsom, Pa./Ridley). Beth Potter (Swarthmore, Pa/ Ridley) fed Jen Langton (Port Washington, NY./P.D. Schreiber), and then found the net herself for one of her two goals on the day to make the score 5-0. The Hokies got on the board with 7:05 remaining in the first. But UVa scored 20 seconds later and controlled the game with a 5-0 run before halftime, as six different Hoos scored for a 13-1 halftime lead. Merideth Elwell (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) had a hat trick in the first half. In the second half, Patton again opened the scoring off a free position less than two minutes into the half. Jessica Hull (Arnold, Md./ Broadneck) scored one of her two on a pass from Langton to put UVaup 14-1. Kate Evans (Swarthmore, PA/Strath Haven) netted one of her two points as she scored a goal unassisted at the 25:50 mark to put the Cavs ahead 16-1. Kelly Allenbach (West Chester, Pa./W.C. Henderson) scored her first career goal with 19:45 left, just before the Hokies pulled their goalie from the game. Tech was able to find the net once more with 17:45 left. After a scoreless ten minutes of play, UVa put an exclamation point on the game with a final goal by Dixie Hurst (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's Belfield ).

Game 18: #2 Virginia 13, #13 Yale 10
The Cavaliers raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first ten minutes of play as Patton and Potter both scored twice to take control of the game. Yale staged a minirally with two quick goals in under a minute but the Cavaliers scored the last five goals of the first half behind two goals by Ariza and Peggy Boutilier's (Baltimorte, Md./Roland Park) second goal of the game for an 11-2 halftime lead. After Patton and Fromal opened the second half with goals to give UVa an 11-goal lead with 23:30 remaining, Yale scored two quick goals before Sarah Gercke (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's Belfield ) stopped the rally. But the Elis answered with four straight goalsbefore Lindsey Talbott (Charlottesville, Va./Western Albemarle) scored her first career goal to stop the Yale run. Yale was not done, though, and scored twice in the final minute to pull back within three.

Looking Ahead
The Cavaliers have closed out the regular season with a 14-4 mark, exactly where they finished the 1996 campaign. They await the bids from the NCAA tournament, which will be announced May 5th. Virginia was the 1996 runners-up, falling to Maryland 10-5 in the finals. Currently the Cavaliers are ranked second and have defeated eight of the top-15 teams, second only to Maryland this season. Chances are the Cavaliers will host a first-round game on May 10 against an opponent to be named later. Virginia has won more tournament games (8) in the 1990's than any other team and have advanced to the title game three times this decade. The Cavaliers have hosted a first-round game three of the last five years and have received a bye into the final four once in that time.

Individual Notes

She's a 10: Beth Ann Potter has moved into tenth place all-time on the Cavalier scoring chart. She stands alone in third on the assist chart with 49 (Sheehan 129, Yates 70) and 16th in goals with 72.

April is not the cruelest month: Virginia has played 201 games in April in history and has a record of 147-50-4 (74.1%) in that time. It is the best month for the Cavaliers (March 72.1%; May 50%).

Ninety is Neat: Kate Evans" three goals this week have pushed her to 91 points in her career. She is only the 18th Cavalier all-time to reach that plateau.

Top-25 action: Kara Ariza has moved into the top-25 all-time for the Cavaliers in scoring with 65 points. She stands 17th overall in career assists with 24.