BLACKSBURG, Va. - After its 18-6 victory at Duke on Saturday, it was time for the Virginia women's lacrosse team to take the road south again. This time, the No. 4 Cavaliers (11-2) went up against in-state rival Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
The Hokies (5-7) played hard and challenged the Virginia defense, but in the end they were no match for the streaking Cavaliers, who won 18-3, taking another opponent apart in their most lopsided victory of the season. It was the sixth consecutive victory for Virginia.
"In a 60 minute game, to just let your opponent score three goals, I don't care who you're playing, that's pretty amazing," Virginia coach Julie Myers said.
Virginia was very comfortable with Andrea Pfeiffer in goal most of the game. The sophomore stepped up enormously, reacting to some rapid attacks by Virginia Tech to post 11 saves for the game. Pfeiffer gave much of the credit to her teammates in holding the Hokies to a season low for goals scored by a Cavalier opponent in a single game.
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"Our defense has been playing great," Pfeiffer said. "It's representative of how solid everyone's playing. I think offensively we struggled at the beginning of the game, but [senior defender] Tiffany Schummer and [junior defender] Courtney Muller were just moving to the side and making the shots a lot further out."
By "struggling," Pfeiffer did not mean that the Cavaliers were not scoring. It took a little less than three goals for freshman attacker Cary Chasney to score the first goal of the game, and both sophomore attacker Caitlin Banks and freshman attacker Amy Appelt scored within the next three minutes. Chasney scored the second of her four goals with less than eight minutes gone by to put the Cavaliers up 4-0, forcing Virginia Tech to take a timeout.
Over the next 11 minutes, the Cavaliers managed a goal from Banks, on an assist from sophomore midfielder Morgan Thalenburg, but the Hokies countered with a few shots of their own. They started to alter the flow of the Cavalier offense.
"I think the kids were just trying to make a highlight film instead of sticking to our basic principles and working on and doing the sure thing," Myers said. "They were able to get their feet under them and try to attack it a little bit smarter in the second half."
Fortunately, Virginia found a way out of its drought, with a goal by sophomore midfielder Lauren Keller, who has been out much of the season due to injury.
Virginia Tech's offense never got into a rhythm. The only goal the Hokies scored in the first half came on a shot off the free position by attacker Samantha Sybert with 8:15 to go, and the Hokies found themselves trailing 8-1 as Chasney hit another two goals to close the half.
In the second half, Virginia Tech countered with two quick goals in just over five minutes, but it seemed like then it was Chasney's time to step aside and let another Cavalier leader take over.
Sophomore midfielder Lauren Aumiller, who continues to lead the Cavaliers in scoring, had all four of her goals in the second half. Four other Cavaliers connected on goals, keeping the Cavalier attack very evenly distributed, with nine Virginia players scoring at least one goal. Sophomore attacker Anne Harvey was a bright spot, with two late goals.
With another win in the books, the sixth straight in holding its opponents to single-digit scoring, the Cavaliers have only to rest up and look forward as they prepare for George Mason on Monday.
"I'm so psyched," Pfeiffer said. "I feel like each game we keep on doing better things and improving"
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