BLACKSBURG –After a west coast road swing that saw the Hokies go 1-1 falling narrowly at USC and defeating Fresno State in convincing fashion, the Virginia Tech lacrosse team is back home this weekend for a Sunday afternoon tilt against visiting Denver. First draw from Thompson Field is set for noon with coverage available on ACC Network Extra.
In the Fresno State game, which Tech took 15-8, midfielder Paige Petty eclipsed the 100-point mark for her career with a six-goal onslaught. She did so in just 29 games.
With 6 goals and an assist today, @paigepetty26 gets to the century mark in points. #goals #justgettingstarted #eleVaTe pic.twitter.com/2JxbjgOvRF
— John Sung (@VTLaxCoach) March 13, 2019
Her 34 goals and 40 points on the season rank third and fifth respectively in the nation.
A few of her teammates are also approaching the mark, with Julia Bolte sitting on 95 career points (32 at Oregon and 63 as a Hokie) and Taylor Caskey has a career tally of 92 to this point.
Behind them, Tech's defense has played well anchored by sophomore goalie Morgan Berman whose 71 saves are up to 15th nationally. She made a career best 14 saves earlier in the season against Colorado and equaled the total Tuesday afternoon in the win at Fresno State.
The defense caused a season high 17 turnovers against the Bulldogs with freshman Lizzie Lohrer recording four, a career high and also grabbing four ground balls. Four other players tallied two caused turnovers; Caskey, Leigh Lingo, Kendall Welch and Mary Clare McCarthy.
The Pioneers
Denver will head to Blacksburg following a March 15 matchup at Gardner-Webb.
The Pioneers are 6-1 so far on the season, including an impressive win against Stony Brook, and beating ACC foe Louisville 18-2. Their only setback was a 12-10 result against the eleventh-ranked team in the nation Michigan.
Denver features a balance attack, with five players recording between 20 and 29 points so far in 2019. Attacker Eliza Radochonski leads all Pioneers with 29 (14 goals and 15 assists), while Bea Behrins owns the most goals on the squad with 18.
On the circle, draw specialist Maddie Baum leads the Pioneers with 32 draw controls on the season. As a team, Denver owns a 78-71 advantage in that category.
Denver is led by 13th-year head coach Liza Kelly who has racked up over 200 career victories and taken the program to the NCAA tournament in three of the last six seasons, including in 2018.
The series
The programs have met five times previously, most recently last season when the Hokies traveled out west. In that game, Tech earned an 11-5 victory behind hat tricks from Emma Harden and former All-ACC performer Tristan McGinley. Mary Claire Byrne had two assists and caused three turnovers in the midfield, while scooping up four ground balls. Tech threatened the Denver goal with 21 shots, while the Pioneers could only muster 10 attempts on target.
All-time, Tech leads 4-1, with the first meeting coming in 1999.
Looking ahead
Following the contest on Sunday afternoon, Tech will prepare to play Elon on Wednesday, March 20 at 4 p.m. in a game scheduled to take place at Thompson Field. That game can be seen on WatchESPN.