Lack of possession dooms UVa

A dynamic offensive group that includes a pair of All-Americans — Ashley McCulloch and Blair Weymouth — leads Virginia, but if they can’t get control of the ball, their credentials don’t matter much.

The Cavaliers couldn’t seem to come up with a stop or a draw control in the second half, and that undercut any attempt at a rally the offense could muster as the No.2 Cavaliers fell to No. 3 Maryland Friday night, 17-11.

The Terrapins matched Virginia goal for goal for a long stretch after the break, which prevented the Cavaliers from clawing back into things and made a 9-6 halftime advantage count. In the late stages of the contest, Maryland pulled away as they maintained control of the draw.

“Maryland just did a great job of fighting,” said Virginia coach Julie Myers. “They seemed to get really clean ones and all the sloppy ones in between.”

The Cavaliers also couldn’t find an answer for Sarah Mollison, who opened Maryland’s scoring and scored four goals in the first half, finishing with six to double her previous career high.

“She’s an all-around outstanding player, very smart and a good decision maker,” said Maryland coach Cathy Reese. “And she can finish.”

Maryland controlled nine of 14 draws against the Cavaliers in the second half, which seemed to force Virginia’s attackers to rush whenever they finally did get a stick on the ball.

“They’d make one pass and try to go to goal with it,” Myers said. “They were hesitant, not effective and really not letting the ball work. Tonight every goal seemed to come the hard way.”

The Cavaliers’ last gasp came with under five minutes to play when Jenny Hauser came up with a goal to cut the lead to 14-11. Virginia came up with the ball on the draw after Maryland got hit with a yellow card, but a turnover near the top of the box gave the Terps the ball back. After Maryland transitioned the ball, the Terps were able to run the clock down to 1:15 before a goal by Maryland junior Brittany Jones.

Mollison followed Jones’ tally just eight seconds later on a fastbreak goal off yet another Maryland draw control. The sophomore attacker then buried her sixth goal to close out the Terrapins’ scoring with 22 seconds left in the game.

Karri Ellen Johnson also had a big night for Maryland with four goals, while Brandi Jones finished with a hat trick.

Virginia’s struggles wasted a five-goal effort by Hauser, which matched her career high. Maryland held McCulloch scoreless for the first time in 11 games, though Maryland didn’t go out of their way to hold the senior in check.

“We had said to her, ‘we don’t know if Maryland is going to try to face guard you and get you out of a rhythm,’” Myers said. “But they just played team defense, they didn’t do anything special on [McCulloch], but certainly she wasn’t feeling it.”