WOMEN’S LACROSSE: Cavs to take on Heels

By Bart Isley

Published: May 6, 2008

Virginia’s women’s lacrosse team knew it would be in the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers just didn’t know they’d be facing off against familiar ACC foe North Carolina. 
Virginia (14-3) will take on the Tarheels Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament after being tabbed as the No. 4 seed in the tournament by the selection committee. The game will be at Klockner at 1 p.m. with the men’s first round NCAA game scheduled for 5 p.m. that night against UMBC.
“You usually can’t get [to the title game] without beating an ACC team,” said Virginia head coach Julie Myers. “And if we can get past UNC, our next potential ACC game is in the championship, so it’s a less ACC-heavy bracket than it usually is for us.”
Virginia played North Carolina on March 16 and rolled past the Tarheels 16-5.
The Cavaliers picked up the ACC’s automatic berth with a pair of comeback victories over Duke and Maryland in the ACC tournament. The Cavaliers stormed back from an 8-3 deficit in each game, including the 10-9 championship victory over the top-seeded Terrapins. Maryland is the No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament behind No. 1 Northwestern and the University of Pennsylvania.
Duke rounded out the tournament’s ACC selections.
The winner of the Virginia/North Carolina matchup will face the winner of Towson and No. 5 Syracuse on May 17 at the higher seed’s campus. If Virginia wins both, they could potentially face Northwestern in the national semifinal.
Virginia has had a week off to recover from the ACC title run and Myers believes the time for healing and recovering has been crucial for the Cavaliers.
“It was great because we came off such an emotional win,” Myers said. “I don’t think it would’ve been such a good week if we didn’t come back and get that victory.”
The time off has also given two of Virginia’s offensive stalwarts, Ashley McCulloch and Blair Weymouth a chance to rest their respective ankle injuries this week. Weymouth has battled her ankle problems all season, and a week off should be of huge benefit for the junior.