WILLIAMSBURG - Behind five goals from senior midfielder Jaime Sellers (Kennebunk, Maine) and 10 second-half saves by freshman Emily Geary (Wayne, Pa.), the William and Mary women's lacrosse team took third-ranked Virginia down to the wire Wednesday night at Albert-Daly Field, but the Tribe's upset bid fell short in a 14-11 Cavalier victory.

In the 42nd meeting between the state-rivals, Virginia (5-1) won its seventh straight in the series on the strength of four-point performances from Kaitlin Duff and Jenny Hauser. Duff led the Cavs with three goals and added an assist, and Hauser recorded a pair of goals and two helpers.

W&M (2-5) dropped its fifth-straight game and third this season to a ranked opponent. Despite the final outcome, the young Tribe gave the defending Atlantic Coast Conference Champions all they could handle for 60 minutes.

After trailing 10-5 at the break, W&M limited the Cavs' methodical offense to just four goals in the second half, thanks in large part to the play of Geary and the Tribe defense. Geary entered the game with 22:30 remaining and recorded 10 saves in that span. Sophomore Sara Beckstead (Annapolis, Md.) started the contest in goal and was also strong, keeping the Tribe in the game with six-first half saves and seven in total.

Freshman midfielder Grace Golden (Manhasset, N.Y.) caused a pair of turnovers, and fellow freshman defender Sarah Jonson (Dallas, Texas) forced a turnover and picked up a key ground ball in the final period. W&M also did not allow an eight-meter goal, on four Virginia attempts.

But, the Cavaliers' potent settled attack and solid all-around play were too much. Only one of Virginia's seven total turnovers was unforced, and the Cavs used a 10-6 advantage on draws in the first half to build the five-goal lead at intermission.

Ashley McCulloch scored a goal and added two assists for Virginia, and Megan O'Malley, Kaitlin Swagart and Whitaker Hagerman all scored two goals apiece. Kendall McBrearty posted only five saves in goal, but each proved to be huge for the Cavaliers, who improved to 11-5-1 all-time in Williamsburg.

Freshman attacker Ashley Holofcener (Reisterstown, Md.) recorded two points on a goal and an assist, two ground balls, two draw controls and a caused turnover for the Tribe. Senior defender Ashley Bolton (Narbeth, Pa.) notched the first point of her career in transition, picking up an assist on Katie Rees' (Catonsville, Md.) second-half goal. Bolton also caused a turnover.

After freshman Kaitlyn Gambrell (Forest Hill, Md.) grabbed the opening draw in her first start, the Tribe showed it came to play Wednesday night from the beginning. Golden converted an early eight-meter attempt, and W&M took a 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the contest.

Behind a pair of draw wins though, it took Virginia only two minutes to answer and seize the lead. Katie Shannon controlled the first reset, and Duff found the net only 31 seconds after Golden. McCullogh gained possession for Virginia again on the next draw, and O'Malley eventually broke through to put the Cavs ahead, 2-1. Hagerman extended the advantage to 3-1 on an assist from McCullogh following a Tribe turnover at the 25:06 mark of the opening half.

W&M showed off its quick-strike ability too, however, as Golden snared the ensuing draw and assisted on Sellers' first goal just nine seconds later. The goal extended Sellers' scoring streak to 23 games, dating back to last season.

After trading goals, Virginia gained some distance with sustained success off the draw and another three-goal blitz. Hauser scored the second of her back-to-back goals to give Virginia a 5-3 lead with 18:37 remaining in the first, and after another McCullough draw win, the Cavaliers' lead grew to 6-3 one minute later on Hagerman's second. Brittany Kalkstein grabbed the ensuing draw, and Duff's second goal with 17:11 left in the first made it 7-3 Virginia.

Virginia gained possession once again off the next draw, but consecutive saves by Beckstead kept the deficit at four. Feeding off the momentum of Beckstead's stops, W&M responded with consecutive goals to claw its way back into the contest. Holofcener set up Maggie Anderson's (Richmond, Va.) 17th goal of the season to trim the margin to 7-4, and then Holofcener knocked home the Tribe's second eight-meter goal of the period with 10:21 remaining to pull to 7-5, causing Virginia to use its first time out.

After the pause, O'Malley controlled the restart and put the Virginia offense back in motion. Beckstead kept the momentum with the home side however, denying another Cavalier scoring attempt by Swagart. But, what could easily be considered the turning point of the period happened moments later, when the Tribe's resulting offensive possession was abruptly ended by a critical off-sides call. Virginia went coast-to-coast in seconds, seemingly, after the call, and Swagart finally solved Beckstead on an assist from Hauser in transition to give the Cavs an 8-5 lead with 7:06 showing.

Beckstead kept the margin at three with a save on an eight-meter shot by Kalkstein and turned away another Swagart shot on the same possession. But, after a successful clear, McBrearty recorded perhaps her biggest save, denying an Anderson free-position attempt in the final three minutes of the half. Virginia then used two deliberate offensive possessions in the final minutes to once again pull away. McCullogh scored with 1:42 remaining in the first, and after a Clare Bordley draw control, Duff found the net with just six seconds on the clock to give Virginia a 10-5 lead.

W&M would earn the first possession of the second half as well with Golden collecting one of her game-high five draw controls, but McBrearty kept the Tribe off the board this time with consecutive saves in the opening two minutes of the second. A turnover would set up Kalkstein's goal 2:47 into the second, which extended the Virginia lead to 11-6.

It began to look even more bleak for W&M after Shannon found the net with 24:31 remaining, capping another methodical possession for Virginia that was set up by a draw win from Hauser. Shannon's marker gave the Cavs their biggest lead of the game, 12-6.

Geary would enter the contest minutes later though, and the Tribe kept Virginia off the board over the next 18 minutes to fuel a comeback attempt. Geary rejected the first shot she saw, and the Tribe caught Virginia in transition after the stop when Bolton found Rees wide open in front of the Cavalier goal. Rees scored with 21:19 remaining to cut the deficit to 12-7. Geary would stop an eight-meter try by Hauser, and Golden caused a key turnover to once again swing the momentum in the Tribe's favor. Still down five though, W&M would alertly use a time out in its attack zone and put together a patient, settled possession of its own, which ended with Clare Dennis (Catonsville, Md.) firing in the Tribe's eighth goal of the game with 14:55 remaining.

Geary tallied four more saves as Virginia continued to pepper the rookie keeper, before Golden picked up a critical ground ball and cleared the zone. Back on attack, Sellers gave the upset and comeback bids even more fuel when she converted an eight-meter shot with 10:23 remaining to trim the Virginia lead to 12-8.

Dennis snagged the ensuing draw and went straight to goal, but McBrearty was there with a huge save. Liz Downs caused one of her three forced turnovers to eventually end the Tribe threat. Geary continued to shine at the other end with a pair of saves, but after Virginia also used a time out on attack, Swagart finally would score the first against Geary with 7:55 remaining to push the lead back to five, 13-8.

W&M had plenty left in the tank for the stretch run though, and after Golden grabbed another draw control, the freshman found the net with 6:25 on the clock to once again ignite the home crowd. Johnson's key ground ball pick up in the left corner behind the Tribe goal gave W&M possession once again, and Sellers again converted from eight meters to make it 13-10 with 4:37 to play.

With the momentum squarely on the home side, Marghi Walters controlled the pivotal following draw for Virginia, and the Cavaliers milked a couple minutes off the block before O'Malley fired home her second with just 2:21 remaining to push the lead back to four, 14-10. Sellers won the resulting draw and provided still a little hope when she raced to goal and scored her fifth with 1:48 on the clock to cut the deficit to three once again.

Virginia would win the restart, but a turnover gave the Tribe yet another chance in the closing minutes. An Anderson blast rocketed off the right post, and another try by Holofcener sailed wide, leaving the score, 14-11. Eventually, Duff caused a Tribe turnover to end the threat, and Virginia escaped with the three-goal win.

Virginia finished with a 16-11 edge on draws, though the Cavaliers held only a 6-5 advantage in the second half. Bordley led Virginia with three draw controls, and Kalkstein, McCullogh and O'Malley all finished with two. Duff led Virginia with three ground balls.

Golden and Johnson each finished with a pair of ground balls for the Tribe.

W&M returns to action next week, traveling to ninth-ranked and currently unbeaten Georgetown on Wednesday afternoon. The opening draw is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.


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