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Sonia LaMonica’s return to Towson was a successful one.
In her first game back since leaving her previous head coaching position with the Towson women’s lacrosse program for the same role at Virginia, LaMonica watched the No. 11 Cavaliers handle No. 9 Maryland in a 13-9 upset Wednesday night at Notre Dame Prep in Towson.
The matchup was played at the private school as part of the One Love game that pays tribute to the late Yeardley Love, a Blazers graduate who played at Virginia before she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2010. The matchup raised more than $11,000 in donations.
An announced attendance of 1,781 filled the bleachers and ringed Yeardley Love field, which delighted LaMonica more than any personal fulfillment about winning in her first appearance in Towson since she left in 2023.
“This is one of the hotbeds of lacrosse, and what an amazing atmosphere we had out here with so many young kids who are the future stars,” she said. “That’s always a strong reminder for our players about not forgetting where you came from and being that role model because they’re the future stars. So that was fun and that was exciting.”
Don’t let LaMonica’s modesty fool you though.
“She was so ecstatic to be here,” sophomore attacker Jenna Dinardo said. “She was hiding it.”
There was much for LaMonica to be pleased with. After falling behind 3-2 early in the second quarter, the Cavaliers (10-4) outscored the Terps, 5-1, the rest of the way. Dinardo scored two of her game-high four goals during a 3-0 run in a 3:13 stretch to propel the team to a 7-4 advantage at halftime.
“I think we just settled in,” LaMonica said. “We defensively made some really strong stops. [Junior goalkeeper] Mel [Josephson] made some fantastic saves out here today, and when you’re playing a great team like Maryland, you need to be able to come up with those defensive stops. And we were doing a good job of executing offensively. Just working together, moving the ball and finishing our stops.”
Virginia’s Kate Galica, center, splits Maryland defenders Maddy Sterling, left, and Neve O'Ferrall to score in the second quarter Wednesday at Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Virginia’s Madison Alaimoreacts after scoring against Maryland in the second quarter. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Maryland’s Lauren Lapointe, right, follows through after scoring in front of Virginia’s Olivia Bruno in the first quarter. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Maryland’s Kori Edmondson, center, runs past Virginia’s Abby Manalang, left, and Lara Kology to score in the first quarter on Wednesday at Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Virginia’s Jenna Dinardo, left, looses control of the ball to Maryland’s Neve O'Ferrall, right, in the second quarter of women's lacrosse game. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Maryland’s Neve O'Ferrall, center, reacts to the defensive effort by Virginia’s Abby Manalang, left, in the second quarter of women's lacrosse game. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Virginia’s Jenna Dinardo, left, shoots past Maryland’s Maddy Sterling, right, to score in the second quarter of women's lacrosse game. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Show Caption1 of 8Maryland’s Kori Edmondson, left,, celebrates after scoring in the first quarter of women's lacrosse game hosted by Notre Dame Prep as part of Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)Expand
Virginia converted 44.8% of its shots (13 of 29), led by as many as five goals in the third quarter, and never let the advantage slip below three in the second half. Like LaMonica, Dinardo credited her teammates on defense, especially Josephson (game-high nine saves), with fueling the offense.
“Our defense was firing us up,” she said. “Mel was coming up with amazing saves, and our defense was pressuring out on the ball and making the offense play a little timid. I think it fired up our offense. They would get a caused turnover, and then we’d come down and execute on our shots.”
The Terps sought to limit the Cavaliers’ potential on offense by tasking sophomore Fallon George with face-guarding sophomore attacker Madison Alaimo, who entered the game leading them in both assists (36) and points (51). Alaimo finished with two goals and one assist, but got considerable help from Dinardo, sophomore attacker Addi Foster (three goals and one assist) and sophomore midfielder Kate Galica (three goals, one assist and five draw controls).
“Obviously, Maddie’s an amazing feeder,” Dinardo said. “Even when she gets taken out of the game like that, she was still converting a lot. So we had her in the game a lot, but we had other players step up. So it feels good to have the team win and not just [rely on] a couple players.”
Sophomore attacker Lauren Lapointe, a Glenelg resident and graduate, came off the bench to pace Maryland (9-4) with three goals, senior attacker Jordyn Lipkin chipped in two goals and one assist, and graduate student attacker Chrissy Thomas had three assists.
But the offense shot just 32.1% of its attempts (9 of 28), failed to convert four of seven free-position opportunities, and could only watch as Lapointe and Lipkin struck the left post a combined three times. The unit also missed a pair of attackers, sophomore Maisy Clevenger (19 goals and 15 assists) and graduate student Kate Sites (15 goals and three assists), because of injury.
“It wasn’t a lack of opportunities, and I think that’s what we need to take away from this game,” coach Cathy Reese said. “At our level and what we’re seeing from this college lacrosse season, you need to finish on the opportunities that you have. For us to be at about 33% in shooting, that’s not good enough. That’s not good enough to beat anyone. So that’s got to be an area of focus.
“I felt like I haven’t had to talk about that a lot this year, but I did that a lot last year. So we’re going to need to readdress that and come out and do a little better in that area on Sunday [against Ohio State].”
Despite the setback, Reese chalked up the evening as a win for the sport as the game — organized by Corrigan Sports Enterprises as part of its College Lacrosse Live series — drew plenty of fans and attention.
“It was great,” she said. “Different venue, different experience for us. I think Corrigan Sports did a real nice job of setting up the event. Had a lot of area kids out to watch a great game, and hopefully, they can see themselves playing at this level one day, too. So it was a great night.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
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Ohio State at No. 7 Maryland
Sunday, 1 p.m.
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In her first game back since leaving her previous head coaching position with the Towson women’s lacrosse program for the same role at Virginia, LaMonica watched the No. 11 Cavaliers handle No. 9 Maryland in a 13-9 upset Wednesday night at Notre Dame Prep in Towson.
The matchup was played at the private school as part of the One Love game that pays tribute to the late Yeardley Love, a Blazers graduate who played at Virginia before she was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 2010. The matchup raised more than $11,000 in donations.
An announced attendance of 1,781 filled the bleachers and ringed Yeardley Love field, which delighted LaMonica more than any personal fulfillment about winning in her first appearance in Towson since she left in 2023.
“This is one of the hotbeds of lacrosse, and what an amazing atmosphere we had out here with so many young kids who are the future stars,” she said. “That’s always a strong reminder for our players about not forgetting where you came from and being that role model because they’re the future stars. So that was fun and that was exciting.”
Don’t let LaMonica’s modesty fool you though.
“She was so ecstatic to be here,” sophomore attacker Jenna Dinardo said. “She was hiding it.”
There was much for LaMonica to be pleased with. After falling behind 3-2 early in the second quarter, the Cavaliers (10-4) outscored the Terps, 5-1, the rest of the way. Dinardo scored two of her game-high four goals during a 3-0 run in a 3:13 stretch to propel the team to a 7-4 advantage at halftime.
“I think we just settled in,” LaMonica said. “We defensively made some really strong stops. [Junior goalkeeper] Mel [Josephson] made some fantastic saves out here today, and when you’re playing a great team like Maryland, you need to be able to come up with those defensive stops. And we were doing a good job of executing offensively. Just working together, moving the ball and finishing our stops.”
Virginia’s Kate Galica, center, splits Maryland defenders Maddy Sterling, left, and Neve O'Ferrall to score in the second quarter Wednesday at Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Virginia’s Madison Alaimoreacts after scoring against Maryland in the second quarter. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Maryland’s Lauren Lapointe, right, follows through after scoring in front of Virginia’s Olivia Bruno in the first quarter. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Maryland’s Kori Edmondson, center, runs past Virginia’s Abby Manalang, left, and Lara Kology to score in the first quarter on Wednesday at Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Virginia’s Jenna Dinardo, left, looses control of the ball to Maryland’s Neve O'Ferrall, right, in the second quarter of women's lacrosse game. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Maryland’s Neve O'Ferrall, center, reacts to the defensive effort by Virginia’s Abby Manalang, left, in the second quarter of women's lacrosse game. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Virginia’s Jenna Dinardo, left, shoots past Maryland’s Maddy Sterling, right, to score in the second quarter of women's lacrosse game. The Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love is hosted by Notre Dame Prep. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) Show Caption1 of 8Maryland’s Kori Edmondson, left,, celebrates after scoring in the first quarter of women's lacrosse game hosted by Notre Dame Prep as part of Corrigan Sports Enterprises' College Lacrosse Live series and the One Love Foundation's One Love game in honor of the late Yeardley Love. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff)Expand
Virginia converted 44.8% of its shots (13 of 29), led by as many as five goals in the third quarter, and never let the advantage slip below three in the second half. Like LaMonica, Dinardo credited her teammates on defense, especially Josephson (game-high nine saves), with fueling the offense.
“Our defense was firing us up,” she said. “Mel was coming up with amazing saves, and our defense was pressuring out on the ball and making the offense play a little timid. I think it fired up our offense. They would get a caused turnover, and then we’d come down and execute on our shots.”
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The Terps sought to limit the Cavaliers’ potential on offense by tasking sophomore Fallon George with face-guarding sophomore attacker Madison Alaimo, who entered the game leading them in both assists (36) and points (51). Alaimo finished with two goals and one assist, but got considerable help from Dinardo, sophomore attacker Addi Foster (three goals and one assist) and sophomore midfielder Kate Galica (three goals, one assist and five draw controls).
“Obviously, Maddie’s an amazing feeder,” Dinardo said. “Even when she gets taken out of the game like that, she was still converting a lot. So we had her in the game a lot, but we had other players step up. So it feels good to have the team win and not just [rely on] a couple players.”
Sophomore attacker Lauren Lapointe, a Glenelg resident and graduate, came off the bench to pace Maryland (9-4) with three goals, senior attacker Jordyn Lipkin chipped in two goals and one assist, and graduate student attacker Chrissy Thomas had three assists.
But the offense shot just 32.1% of its attempts (9 of 28), failed to convert four of seven free-position opportunities, and could only watch as Lapointe and Lipkin struck the left post a combined three times. The unit also missed a pair of attackers, sophomore Maisy Clevenger (19 goals and 15 assists) and graduate student Kate Sites (15 goals and three assists), because of injury.
“It wasn’t a lack of opportunities, and I think that’s what we need to take away from this game,” coach Cathy Reese said. “At our level and what we’re seeing from this college lacrosse season, you need to finish on the opportunities that you have. For us to be at about 33% in shooting, that’s not good enough. That’s not good enough to beat anyone. So that’s got to be an area of focus.
“I felt like I haven’t had to talk about that a lot this year, but I did that a lot last year. So we’re going to need to readdress that and come out and do a little better in that area on Sunday [against Ohio State].”
Despite the setback, Reese chalked up the evening as a win for the sport as the game — organized by Corrigan Sports Enterprises as part of its College Lacrosse Live series — drew plenty of fans and attention.
“It was great,” she said. “Different venue, different experience for us. I think Corrigan Sports did a real nice job of setting up the event. Had a lot of area kids out to watch a great game, and hopefully, they can see themselves playing at this level one day, too. So it was a great night.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
UP NEXT
Ohio State at No. 7 Maryland
Sunday, 1 p.m.
Stream: BIG+
Continue reading...
