DENVER, Colo – The UAlbany women’s lacrosse offense came to life over the final 25 minutes as the Great Danes scored 13 goals over that span to stun No. 12 Virginia 16-14 in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship on Friday night in Denver.
The win marks the 11th #AEWLAX victory in the last 10 seasons and the first NCAA victory for UAlbany since 2011. It is the program’s first win over a top-15 program since taking down #8 Cornell during the 2017 campaign.
Sarah Falk led the offense with seven goals on 11 shots, while also picking up five draws. Grace McCauley added three goals. Katie Pascale had seven points on four goals and three assists to compliment her 10 draws and three caused turnovers. Grace Cincebox made some big stops in net and finished with seven saves in the victory.
The Great Danes trailed 7-3 at the half and the Cavaliers added three more goals in the first five minutes of the third quarter to stretch their lead to 10-3. However, UAlbany went on a 7-1 the rest of the period, including three goals in the final 80 seconds to make it an 11-10 contest.
Virginia scored to start the fourth, but consecutive goals by Falk tied it 12-12 with 10:45 remaining. Grace McCauley and Katie Pascale added goals for a 14-12 advantage with 6:13 left. Falk stretched it to 15-12, but two UVA goals trimmed the lead to just 15-14 with 1:02 left. One more UAlbany goal and Cincebox save sealed it for the Great Danes as they earned the 16-14 win.
UAlbany returns to action on Sunday at 3 p.m. as they face No. 5 Denver, who is 20-0 on the season.
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