With a 14-10 win against No. 16 Vanderbilt under their belt, No. 2 Virginia returns home to host Syracuse tomorrow at noon. While the Cavaliers have already recorded a win, the game will mark the beginning of the season for No. 13 Syracuse.
Syracuse split two 30-minute scrimmages with Penn on Feb. 14. The Orangewomen won the first game, 6-5, but lost the second, 6-2.
In the first scrimmage, senior midfielder Leigh-Ann Zimmer got the Orangewomen on the scoreboard. She is second all-time at Syracuse with 109 goals scored, and third all-time with 159 career points and 40 career assists. Junior midfielder Monica Joines recorded four goals and one assist. She is ninth all-time at Syracuse with 46 career goals and 56 career points. Freshman goaltender Bethel Steele played all 30 minutes and helped seal the win with five saves.
In Virginia's game last weekend, junior attack Amy Appelt scored six goals tying her career high and was named ACC Player of the Week. She is eighth all-time in career goals scored at Virginia with 117, and sixth all-time in points scored with 163.
Despite losing Lauren Aumiller, Virginia's all-time leading scorer, the Cavaliers offense stepped up to fill the void. Sophomore midfielders Nikki Lieb had six ground balls, and Meredith Lazarus recorded her first hat trick. Senior attack Morgan Thalenberg also recorded a hat trick and three draw controls.
In her first career start, junior defender Ashley Dodson had two draw controls, two ground balls and caused a turnover. Senior goalkeeper Andrea Pfeiffer contributed to the win with six saves and an assist.
"This is Andrea's third year starting for us," Myers said. "She will have older players in front of her but not necessarily tremendously experienced players, so I do expect for us to get better everyday that we practice and every game that we play in. But I think it's a great group and I'm really excited about it."
Virginia returns this season with experience, confidence and a victorious season opener.
"You want to take it a day at a time, hopefully building great things and getting back to an ACC title game and hopefully winning and then working our way back to the NCAA title game as well," Myers said.
In order to the reach these goals, the Cavaliers are not overlooking their competition.
"I think that everyone's going to be out to get us," senior attack Caitlyn Banks said. "We had a great year last year, and we need to make sure that we're ready for that, ready to have people on our heels."
Tomorrow's game will be Syracuse's first true test of the season and will provide Virginia with the chance to build up a winning record.
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