Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – With the 2019 Fall Ball season just 10 days away, Virginia Tech lacrosse coach John Sung released the squad's roster and fall slate Wednesday afternoon. A talented group of newcomers will compliment a productive group of returners on the field for the Hokies which includes all three All-ACC performers from 2019 (juniors Paige Petty, Emma Crooks and Elena Ricci), as well as starting goalie Morgan Berman.
The Hokies are set for five different competition days in the fall semester, beginning on Saturday, September 28thwith Virginia Tech Play Day, which will feature games against Longwood, VCU and Davidson.
Editor's note: we caught up with Coach Sung and asked him five questions about what excites him about the fall and who has impressed in training so far this semester.
HokieSports.com: What are you most looking forward to during this fall season?
John Sung"I think just an opportunity for our kids to compete against other teams. This year we finally have a recruiting class that is all my kids. I guess it's my first real recruiting class, so I'm really excited to see those kids compete. We had a really strong recruiting class come in with Under Armor All-Americans and kids who played at the World Cup level. We're really excited to showcase some of these new faces and get us out there and creating a better team chemistry. I think watching us fill the voids of kids who have left in the past couple of years is going to be really good, so I'm excited for that."
HS: What has been the team's focus in training this fall so far?
JS: "The biggest thing for us is focusing on taking little steps and working on the details of our game. For us, we had so many close games this past year, so I think it's the little things that we realize make the difference. Catching timely passes, not dropping the ball, scoring timely goals, coming up with stops. We've been working on the basics to make sure those things are really sound, the foundational stuff. We spent a lot more time on our stick work, easing ourselves into system work, which I think is important. We are spending a lot more time in the function of playing, which I think is good. Worrying about the playing stuff is what we're really focused on, but if we can get these kids and everyone on the same page, we'll have some good success."
HS: Have you seen any players or position groups that have really stood out?
JS: "I think from our players, Morgan Berman has put in a lot of work over the summer. She is someone I'm really excited to see with another year behind her as a starter. I think she has done a really good job at asserting herself as the dominant goalkeeper here. I think she's taken the next steps of growth, kind of what we saw with Meagh Graham, she's really bought into her fitness and being the best that she can. She knows she needs to be a leader out there.
I think having a healthy Paige [Petty]. Paige was pretty banged up out there. She had a little nagging knee surgery over the summer and watching her get back to full speed has been fun because we didn't really have that all spring. She was kind of just nursing that. Our new faces have really stepped up. You've got a couple of our freshmen that could really make an impact for us, so I'm excited to see those kids with the veteran players.
Our sophomores have really stepped up. Jordan Tilley has really emerged as the leader on our defense now. Last year she was a freshman and now she finally understands the works she needs to put in and that is an awesome transformation watching her emerge as one of our leaders has been really good for us."
HS: How have the veterans been leading the team?
JS: "It's been good. We've invested both time and finances into making sure the leadership and the team is going to be better. We realized that the internal leadership is what's going to help us win or lose games with that focus of pushing us over the edge has got to come from within. We've got a really great group of juniors and seniors that are really hungry and realize that we missed out last year. We were just a game or a goal away from finishing what we need to do, but I think for them it has been really great because they are taking responsibility for what they need to do to get us to that next level.
As a team, we're changing culturally, which I think is great too. We're evolving into that next version of ourselves, so I'm excited for that. They're young leaders because they're all new. Having these first-year captains is kind of refreshing because their eagerness to learn and represent their group has really stepped forward into them taking some of the responsibility that we've had as coaches. That's just the program maturing under my vision of the program. Having the internal leadership of the kids wanting to be responsible and take responsibility for their actions. I'm seeing them make some really hard decisions and some really mature decisions."
HS: Does the team have a mantra or hashtag for the 2020 season yet?
JS: "I don't know if we've really got into a mantra yet. I think everyone on this team believes we have unfinished business. We need to relish being in the building process because we still are. We probably will be for the next couple of years, at least in my mind, until recruiting finally catches up. Every year from here on out we will probably get better. We're not dealing with split classes. Last year it was a split class because it was the former coach's kids and my kids. We're at the point now where the kids coming in from this year on will all have been recruited by me throughout the entire process. They will finally have equal amounts of time as every other kid that comes in after them. The relationships and everything we're building will be a lot better from that standpoint.
I think they realize that what we did last year was just not good enough and that there is a lot of unfinished business. For us, one of the biggest things we've focused in on this fall is just being connected as a unit, as a team. Making sure the relationships that we have as coaches and players, and players between grades, are much better. Knowing how to motivate each other and keep ourselves moving in the right direction and not self-sabotaging ourselves is important."