ANNAPOLIS, Md.—Virginia's Ashlyn McGovern scored on a free position shot with 34 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime and then scored off an assist from Nora Bowen 46 seconds into overtime to give the #8 Cavaliers (1-0) a 14-13 win over #15 Navy (0-1).

"I thought our team played with a lot of heart today," said Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. "We want to set a standard that we are national contenders and when you come up short like we did, it hurts," said Timchal. "We have high expectations and it's gut wrenching to lose a game like this, it's gut wrenching for the players, but we aren't going to let this game define us."

Navy had a chance to win the game in regulation, winning the draw control after McGovern's game-tying tally, but couldn't get a shot off.  Senior Natalie Irwin fired in a goal off a pass from junior Nicole Victory, but the shot came after time had expired.

"We didn't call a timeout after winning the draw, because we didn't want to lose momentum," said Timchal.  "I usually like to call a timeout in that situation, but we chose not to this time and we called a play from the sideline. They doubled down hard on us and we lost track of time. That was bad, we probably should have called a timeout."

The outcome is a heartbreaker for the Mids, who dominated play in the first half, but committed too many unforced errors and had several wide-open shots either hit a pipe or sail over the goal.

Virginia led just once during regulation time, for 5:13, on a Sammy Mueller goal that gave the Cavaliers a 2-1 lead. 

The Mids went on a 5-1 run after the Mueller goal with Irwin scoring three times.  Irwin's final goal of the half came with just 21 seconds left and gave Navy a 6-3 lead. 

Navy, however, gave up a backbreaking goal at the end of the half with McGovern scoring at the buzzer to cut the Navy lead to two at 6-4.  That goal would loom large throughout the second half.

Navy regained a three-goal lead at 8-5 with 23:34 left on back-to-back unassisted goals by senior Annalise Heyward, but Virginia answered with three-straight goals of their own to tie the game at eight with 18:38 left.

Navy would take a two-goal lead three more times, but all three times the Mids allowed Virginia to come right back and tie it.

Navy's final two-goal lead came with 4:11 left on Irwin's career-best fourth goal that gave the Mids a 13-11 lead, but that would be the final time that Navy would score.

Bowen scored an unassisted goal with 2:56 left to pull Virginia to within one, setting up McGovern's heroics.

"Navy women's lacrosse wants to set a standard that we are national contenders and when you come up short like we did today, it hurts," said Timchal. "We have high expectations and it's gut wrenching to lose a game like this."

Victory finished with two goals, four assists and two caused turnovers for the Mids, while senior Kayla Harris had a solid all-around game with two goals, one assist, three ground balls and nine draw controls. 

Kelly Larkin, who was a Second-Team All-American last year and is Navy's all-time leading scorer, was shut down by the Virginia defense contributing just one assist and no goals. 

Sophomore Gil Eaby had a big game on the defensive end for the Mids coming up with a career-high five ground balls and causing a career-high four turnovers.  Sophomore Abbi Young had a career-high eight saves in goal.

Virginia was awarded a whopping 10 free position opportunities, converting five, while Navy made just two of its five free position opportunities.  Navy was whistled for 26 fouls, compared to just 14 for Virginia.  The Mids committed 17 turnovers, while Virginia had 13.

"This was a tough opener for anybody, most teams are shying away from playing good teams early on," said Timchal. "We could have scheduled a win today, but we wanted to test ourselves to see where we are."

Navy will have another tough game on Wednesday afternoon as the Mids travel to Philadelphia to take on St. Joseph's at 4 PM.  Last year, Navy was fortunate to pull out a 12-11 win at home over the Hawks.

"We need to reset, recommit and get prepared for St. Joseph's on Wednesday," said Timchal.