Lacrosse

Hokies Win 13-7 Despite Little Advantage On Home Field
By Adam Davis, Sports Writer
Photos by Justin Cates, Sports Writer and Adam Davis
February 26, 2007

On a cold and icy Sunday in Blacksburg, the Virginia Tech Lacrosse team defeated the Albany Great Danes in much less than ideal playing conditions at the Virginia Tech Lacrosse Stadium.  Albany’s Kayla Best led all players with four goals while Tech’s Lindsay Pieper and Kady McBrearty tallied four points with three goals and one assist each.

With temperatures below freezing and freezing rain falling lightly, the conditions barely allowed for the game to be played at all.  If anything, the Great Danes were better prepared for the conditions as they traveled to Blacksburg from New York for the first ever meeting between the schools. 

Head Coach Katrina Silva, who notched her first win at Virginia Tech, said that “the conditions today weren't great for lacrosse… it's cold and nasty and wet out here and it looked like everyone was playing with a tennis racket instead of a lacrosse stick.”  However, Pieper would not let the team use the weather as an excuse; adding that “we handled it well...we [have] definitely practiced in worse. So I think that helped.”

Albany would score first on a goal by Best less than two minutes into the game with an assist by Rory Redmond.  Tech, however, responded with a free position goal from Pieper and an unassisted score from McBrearty to take the lead almost nine minutes in.  Best then scored her second goal of the game on a free position shot halfway through the first half to tie the game at 2-2. 

Tech would respond this time by scoring seven unanswered goals to finish out the half, carrying a 9-2 lead.  During that stretch Piper scored again on a McBrearty assist followed by two consecutive Britt Faulkner goals.  McBrearty then notched her second goal followed by goals from Jenna Reich, Jackie Gray, and Faith Richards. 

The second half started with a 3-1 run by Albany to cut the lead to 10-5.  However, Tech would finish the game on a 3-2 run of their own to hold on with the 13-7 win, their first of the year. 

The Lady Hokies were thankful of the win following a tough start to their season with losses at #13 Richmond and #9 Virginia.  Coach Silva was reluctant to get to excited over the win but did see some good things from her squad saying, “I thought we didn't control the tempo as much as I would like to see but when our transition was on, it was on, and that's where we got that big 7-0 run.”

Pieper, who was held scoreless for the first time in 18 games in the loss to UVa, noted some adjustments the team was able to make today.  “At UVa we just were pushing a lot and causing a lot of turnovers.  We wanted to get in our offense and get a few throws around before we started into our motion, so I was just trying to get the offense moving before we went right to goal.  We didn't want that quick turnover, we wanted to give our defense a rest,” said Pieper.   This was apparent as Pieper passed up a few open lanes to the goal from about 25 yards out to slow down the pace and settle into the offense in the second half.

On the other end of the field for the Hokies, goal keeper Kari Morrison had a big game, making 15 saves and allowing only seven goals. Silva said of Morrison, “She did an awesome job today and we're really proud of her.  She made some nice saves, hung in there when we had a couple quick turnovers that I thought could have been some ugly goals.” 

To end the game Tech led in draws controlled (13-9), clears (27-19), and saves (15-6).  Albany led in shots (34-31), ground balls (38-23), and free-position shots (10-6).  Tech also had 28 fouls to Albany’s 31 and 32 turnovers to Albany’s 24.

The Lady Hokies now look forward to three more home games over spring break that will start on Friday at 7pm when Denver visits Blacksburg.  Last year the two teams played a game that went to overtime before the Hokies took the win.