Dear Old U.Va.

W Lax Crushes Hokies in Season Opener

Wednesday, February 18 2009 by Tim

The Virginia Women’s Lacrosse team started off their 2009 season in an unusual way – an ACC game against in-state rival Virginia Tech. One might wonder if the team would be prepared for an ACC test in their first game of the season. One should wonder no longer. The Cavaliers jumped out to a 10-2 lead at the half and barely let the foot off the gas in the second half, destroying the Hokies 19-3. The Cavaliers had more goals than Virginia Tech had shots (12). That was two teams on completely different playing fields.

The weather was bitter cold and the ground was definitely slick, so I had concerns of how crisp the passing would be and how the team would handle the field. Those fears were put away very quickly as I saw some of the most crisp passing on a lacrosse field in a while and traction didn’t seem to be a problem.

The usual suspects were major contributors in the game today. Ashley McCullough notched four goals and four assists, Blair Weymouth had three goals and two assists, Whit Hagerman had three goals and one assist and Kaitlyn Duff tallied two goals and two assists. But we also got to see lots of good things from some of the younger players as well. Freshman Josie Owen had three goals on six shots and four ground balls. Fellow freshman midfielders Bailey Fogarty and Julie Gardner each had one goal and two ground balls.

Redshirt junior Lauren Benner spent most of the time (44:16) in goal, notching four saves and only two goals against. Senior Sara Hairfield had the rest of the time, giving up just one goal.

The ladies return to action on Saturday at Loyola (3:30pm) before coming home again next Wednesday to face Richmond (7pm).

I’ve put a couple of pictures from the game below and, as usual, the rest are in the photo gallery.