Women's Lacrosse: Virginia continues rivalry at Class of 1952 Stadium

The Tigers and Cavaliers have a long-standing rivalry that has extended beyond their annual regular-season contests to include multiple NCAA Tournament matchups, including three national title games. Each team has won twice in the past four years. Virginia came away with a narrow 10-9 victory in Charlottesville last season, and Princeton is poised to avenge that defeat with a victory at home this weekend.

“Both programs have a lot of respect for the other, and we tend to have hard-fought, close matches,” head coach Chris Sailer said. “You’ve just got to be pumped up when you’re playing a program like Virginia. That competition tends to bring out the best in the Tigers.”

Princeton enters the game on Saturday after returning home from a convincing victory in Providence over Brown. The Tigers put up 18 goals, their highest tally of the season so far, and are undoubtedly looking to carry their offensive prowess on through the season.

“We were playing a really solid, team-oriented game,” Sailer said. “We executed both our motions and our set plays very well. Over half of our goals were assisted, and we capitalized on all of our man-up penalty situations.”

The Cavaliers’ 4-3 record may not appear so impressive, but the strength of their schedule should be taken into consideration. Virginia played five top-20 teams in their first six games, including three in the top 10. The Cavaliers have been streaky thus far this season, winning their first three games before dropping the next three. However, the visitors enter this week’s matchup with recent success, following a 10-3 thrashing of William and Mary. Princeton has only faced one ranked foe so far this year, a 12-9 loss to No. 4 Duke.

The Cavaliers have a very well-rounded offense: Five players on the team have more than eight goals apiece, led by midfielder Liza Blue with 12. Attacker Josie Owen is the team leader in assists, with 20 so far in the season. Virginia has scored 10 goals per game while allowing 9.7.

The Tigers’ potent offense posts over 26 shots each game, having connected on more than 50 percent of them so far. Their 13.25 goals scored and 8.50 allowed gives them a scoring differential of nearly five goals a game so far. Junior attacker Jaci Gassaway is leading Princeton in goals scored after another successful game against Brown, with 15 goals on the season. Freshman attacker Erin McMunn has been the Tigers’ main facilitator so far this year with 10 assists.

Following this weekend’s game, the Tigers will travel to New York to play their second Ivy League contest against Columbia on Wednesday.