HARRISONBURG, Va. – No. 11 Stanford fell to No. 18 Virginia, 12-3, in the first round of the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship on Friday night at Sentara Park.
Stanford (15-5) finished with the second-most wins in program history, and reached the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the last nine years.
Virginia (10-9) scored the first five goals of the game. Stanford did not score until 1:16 into the second half. Senior goalkeeper Allie DaCar kept the Cardinal in the game with five saves in the first half, and despite not scoring, Stanford trailed by just four at intermission.
Senior Dillon Schoen tallied Stanford's first goal after 31:16 of game time to close to within four. But the Cavaliers scored the next four for a 9-1 advantage.
Freshman Taylor Scornavacco buried one at the 18:25 mark of the second half, and classmate Emma Knaus scored with 12:12 remaining. Virginia scored the last two goals for the final margin.
DaCar finished with six saves in her final game in Cardinal. Fellow senior Maggie Nick led the team with four ground balls, while sophomore Daniella McMahon finished with three ground balls and a team-high three caused turnovers.
In all, it marked the final game for nine seniors, Cameron Park, Sandy Smith, Sydney Shaw, Kelly Myers, Madison O'Leary, Kelsey Murray, DaCar, Schoen and Nick. Over the last four years the nine Stanford seniors led the Cardinal to 57 victories, two conference championships and three NCAA tournament appearances.
The Cardinal finished second in the Pac-12 Conference with an 8-2 record in the regular season. As the second seed, Stanford won the inaugural Pac-12 Tournament championship with a come-from-behind win over third-seeded and No. 20 USC, 15-14, and a dominant performance over top-seeded and 14th-ranked Colorado, 15-6, in Boulder, Colorado.
This was Stanford's eighth NCAA appearance. Now in its 24th year as a program, Stanford made one NCAA Tournament in the 14 years prior to head coach Amy Bokker, but has made seven appearances in her 10 years at the helm.
