Trailing by seven goals early in the third quarter Friday night, the University at Albany women’s lacrosse team responded with an epic comeback that could make the rest of the NCAA Tournament field take notice.
Led by senior Sarah Falk, who scored all seven of her goals in the second half, the Great Danes stunned 12th-ranked Virginia of the Atlantic Coast Conference 16-14 in a first-round match at Peter Barton Stadium in Denver.
“Everyone in this locker room always believed and knew that we could do that and that it was in us,” UAlbany head coach Katie Thomson said. “Our Albany community and our Albany fan base always knew this was possible, so that’s what matter to us and excited for other people to become fans as well.”
The Great Danes improved to 2-23 against ranked teams during Thomson’s five seasons as head coach.
UAlbany (13-6) trailed Virginia 10-3 with 11:42 left in the third period before outscoring the Cavaliers 13-4 the rest of the way.
“I think just staying connected and trusting each other,” Falk said. “I think there was a point where we were just like, we’ve got this and we’ve got to get up and once we started getting up, we just trusted the process and trusted each other and it was just easy. It just came natural. It’s what we do every day in practice. Definitely just getting up and staying hot.”
The Great Danes advance to a second-round matchup at 3 p.m. Sunday against host Denver (20-0), the only unbeaten team left in Division I, which defeated USC 10-7 on Friday.
“I think we can do anything together when we play together,” said UAlbany junior Katie Pascale, who had four goals and three assists. “We’ve seen the best teams in the country, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country (Northwestern and Syracuse) and we’ve played competitive games against them. So I’m not…
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