cville-lax.com

From media releases

The Virginia women’s lacrosse team will face Northwestern on Sunday, May 27 in the NCAA Championships final in a game at 7 pm to be held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa. The contest will mark the third time in four years that these two schools have met in the NCAA Championships, and each time the winner of the game has won the national title. The title game will be televised live on CSTV.

In 2004 Virginia defeated Northwestern 15-11 in the NCAA quarterfinals; Virginia went on to win the NCAA title two games later. In 2005, the ‘Cats defeated Virginia 13-10 to cap an undefeated season and win their first-ever NCAA title. Northwestern also won the 2006 NCAA title and are on an 11-game win streak in the NCAA Championships; the Cavaliers were the last team to defeat Northwestern in NCAA play. Virginia enjoys a 5-2 lead in the series with the ‘Cats.

The ‘Hoos are playing in their fourth final in five years; the Class of 2007 has reached the NCAA final in three of their four seasons and have a record of 10-2 in the NCAA Championships. Only 10 classes in history have won 10 games in their careers.

The Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA final by staging the largest comeback in NCAA Division I Championships history. Virginia defeated Duke 14-13 in the semifinals, rallying from down 13-4 with 20 minutes remaining by scoring the final 10 goals of the game. No team had ever won a game after trailing by more than six goals until Virginia did it on Friday night.

Virginia ranks fifth in the nation in scoring defense; the Wildcats lead the nation in scoring offense. The ‘Hoos are led defensively by Jessy Morgan, Claire Bordley and Jen Holden; these three USA team alumnae anchor one of the toughest defenses in the nation. Virginia’s midfield is led by a pair of Philadelphia natives that helped spark the 10-0 run in the semifinal as former high school teammates Megan Havrilla and Jess Wasilewski have helped the Cavaliers rank in the top-10 nationally in scoring margin. In addition, a pair of first-years, Brittany Kalkstein and Kaitlin Duff, lead Virginia in draw controls (Kalkstein) and caused turnovers and ground balls (Duff).

Virginia’s offense is led by Kate Breslin, who has 95 points on the season and has notched 18 points in the championships thus far. She ranks no. 4 all-time in NCAA history with 13 goals in a tournament and no. 8 all-time in history with 18 points in a tournament. Breslin’s 67 goals are the most-ever for a Virginia fourth-year; she needs four goals to move into the no. 2 spot all-time at Virginia for goals in a season. Teammate Blair Weymouth has 84 points this season; she set the record for points as a second year with her five against Duke and she ranks seventh all-time in Virginia history for points in a season. Teammate Ashley McCulloch has seven assists in the tournament, including four vs Duke; she ranks no. 10 all-time in history with 7 assists in a tournament and no. 3 all-time in history with 4 assists in an NCAA semifinal game. Her 36 assists in 2007 ranks fourth all-time in school history.