Cavaliers stop Hokies in ACC tournament opener

BLACKSBURG — Virginia took care of step one. Now comes undefeated Maryland.

The Cavaliers women’s lacrosse team made short work of Virginia Tech on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, jumping out to a six-goal halftime lead en route to a 13-5 victory.

Before the tournament, Virginia (11-6) appeared to need a victory over Virginia Tech and Maryland in order to ensure an NCAA bid, and now they’ve got the chance they were hoping for against the Terrapins.

“We’re excited that this one is behind us,” said coach Julie Myers. “All week we were thinking we need to be ready for three games but we need to take care of the first one. It’s nice to have the first one in the bank.”

Ashley McCulloch sparked Virginia with four goals and two assists, exploding for her highest point total since March 24 against James Madison. By the standard she’s set during a decorated career, McCulloch had been held in check over the last six games except for a four-point performance against George Mason.

“I think she’s been pretty frustrated the latter part of the season and I think she was definitely due for a big game,” said junior Brittany Kalkstein. “She really came out strong today.”

McCulloch picked up several of her goals on quick flashes in front of the cage, a big change for the senior who usually plays from behind goal while setting the table for teammates. Josie Owen played more behind the cage to free McCulloch up, and the freshman finished with three assists.

Jenny Hauser had four points, notching a hat trick while also dishing out an assist, while freshman Julie Gardner had a pair of goals.

Kalkstein led the way in the first half with a pair of assists and three draw controls. Virginia’s 7-2 advantage on the draw paved the way for the 7-1 halftime lead. The junior is now just five controls off the school’s season record, which she set as a sophomore.

“I think we work on draw controls every single practice,” McCulloch said. “To have Brittany come in and just dominate on them is so helpful.”

Controlling the draw also allowed the Cavaliers to work their motion offense and control the tempo of the game while limiting offensive chances for Virginia Tech (7-10). Virginia held a sizeable advantage over the Hokies in shots, taking 30 to Virginia Tech’s 17.

“We really wanted to go with ball movement and see what we could do, but Virginia Tech is good,” Myers said. “Against a goalie [Kari Morrison] as good as they have we had to make sure we had some clean open looks. She made a lot of great saves.”

Morrison finished with 11 saves, several of them from point-blank range.

It didn’t hurt either that Virginia goalie Sara Hairfield, in just her third start of the season, came up with five saves of her own, four of them in the second half. Hairfield’s first and only save of the first half on a free-position shot with 16:30 left before the break seemed to set the tone for Virginia defensively.

The senior also ranged out for a loose ball with six minutes left in the first to halt a Virginia Tech possession. Hairfield’s ground ball set the table for another McCulloch goal and a 5-1 lead less than a minute later.

Now, Virginia has to complete a challenging step two. Maryland is 16-0 and features four big-time scorers in a balanced offense. That quartet — Karri Ellen Johnson, Sarah Mollison, Brandi Jones and Caitlyn McFadden — is tied for fifth in points per game during ACC play.

“We’re going to have our hands full, they’ve got a lot of weapons,” Myers said. “We need to make sure that we’re sharp.”

Particularly with the season possibly on the line.

Free-position shots

Four Virginia players were named to the All-ACC first team announced Thursday. Blair Weymouth joined fellow attackers Hauser and McCulloch and midfielder Kaitlin Duff on the team.