The No. 11 Irish fell to No. 12 Virginia 16-13 in a highly contested game in Charlottesville, Virginia. With the loss, the Irish fell to 6-3 on the season and 3-2 in conference play.
Senior attacker Jackie Wolak had a career-best six goals in the game. Three of her tallies came in the fourth quarter to give the Irish a chance late in the game. Her eight points were also a career best.
The Irish grabbed the lead early Saturday with a goal by junior midfielder Mary Kelly Doherty. Doherty’s goal came from a free-position shot just under three minutes into the game. The Cavaliers would answer, however, to tie the game at one apiece five minutes into the game.
Doherty and Wolak added two goals at the end of the first quarter to force a 3-3 deadlock after 15 minutes of play. The Cavaliers would lead from then on out.
Virginia began to pull away from the Irish early in the second quarter by scoring two goals in the opening minutes to take a 5-3 lead. The Cavaliers scored again in the second quarter, but Wolak scored her second of the game to bring the lead to 6-4 midway through the quarter.
Virginia took control of the game in the remainder of the half. The Cavaliers scored five unanswered goals to take a commanding 11-4 lead.
Junior midfielder Kelly Denes got the Irish back on track in the second half, scoring her seventh goal of the season to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 11-5.
Wolak and junior midfielder Kristen Shanahan scored as well for the Irish in the third quarter. The Irish faced a 12-7 deficit heading into the final quarter.
Although the Irish scored six goals in the fourth quarter, they were unable to make up the deficit, and the Cavaliers held on to win 16-13.
The Irish will return to action this Monday at Arlotta Stadium when they take on Brown at 4 p.m.
