John Sung was hired as the head coach for Virginia Tech women’s lacrosse in May 2016 after building the Winthrop program from the ground up. He ascended the Eagles as a regional powerhouse from its first Division I season in 2013 to back-to-back Big South championship seasons in 2015 and 2016.
Sung plans to do the same with the Hokies, restarting a program that has yet to win an ACC game since 2012, which was a 10-9 overtime victory against Virginia. In 2016, Virginia Tech finished with a 5-13 record with zero ACC wins. Since joining the ACC in 2005, the Hokies have gone 3-62 in conference play.
“Honestly, it’s like we’re starting over,” Sung said to Tech Sideline after his hire. “I’m taking this as a new build. … We have the plot of land, and that is Virginia Tech, and that’s all we have. Literally, we will reset the foundation. This is the 23rd year of the program for us, and in over 23 years, we can’t be the same that we’ve been. It has to change. We can’t look forward in saying our best season being an 11-6 season. That can’t be us.”
The Hokies appear to be buying into Sung’s coaching philosophy, upsetting No. 20 Boston College 18-12 on Saturday afternoon for its first conference win in five years.
“It’s nice to finally win an ACC game,” said coach Sung. “We put a lot of work into building this team and this culture. I think today is the first step to seeing the many different things that can happen in this program and we are really excited.”
Kristine Loscalzo (4G), Tristan McGinley (4G) and Marissa Davey (2G, 2A) each tallied four points to lead the Hokies, while Zan Biedenharn added two goals.
But halftime proved to be the turning point after Virginia Tech trailed Boston College 7-6. The Hokies opened the second period with a four-goal run and never fell behind again. Davey scored her two goals to open and close Virginia Tech’s final four-goal spurt to end the game.
The Hokies outshot the Eagles 41-25, won the ground ball battle 19-15 and flipped the script on the draw to finish with a 20-12 advantage after being tied 7-7 on draw controls after the first half. Virginia Tech also played smarter after halftime, turning the ball over more than 50 percent less than the first period.
Virginia Tech improves to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC, while Boston College is now 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
“In the second half, we opened up our playbook and really made adjustments,” said Sung. “That was the biggest thing, how we adjusted from an offensive standpoint. We scored 12 goals in the second half. That’s crazy.”
Boston College was led by a five-point effort from Kate Weeks on four goals and an assist. Kaileen Hart added a hat trick and one assist, while Sam Apuzzo scored twice.
What a game. Kerrigan Miller nets the game-winning goal to lift @USCTrojansLax over @NULax 11-10 in overtime. pic.twitter.com/wRFP4SeYx0
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 18, 2017
OVERTIME THRILLERS
No. 3 USC 11, No. 12 Northwestern 10 (OT)
No. 16 Denver 11, Louisville 10 (3OT)
For the second straight win in the series, USC downs Northwestern 11-10 in overtime thanks to a thrilling back-handed goal by freshman midfielder Kerrigan Miller. It also was the Wildcats’ second straight overtime loss after being upset by Colorado 11-10 last week.
Northwestern’s Shelby Fredericks opened the scoring three minutes in, but USC quickly took the lead with a four-goal run kickstarted by Kylie Drexel. The Wildcats then responded with 6-2 run of their own to go up by one, but the Trojans regained their lead with three consecutive goals – one from Cynthia Del Core and two from Drew Jackson – in the final 2:50 to close the first half.
At the 26:53 mark opening the second period, Jackson recorded a hat trick before Northwestern scored three straight to tie it 10-10 with 7:09 remaining. After 16 goals in the first half and just four in the second, neither USC nor Northwestern scored until Kerrigan finished the day with a hat trick of her own.
Jackson led the Trojans with four points and goalie Gussie Johns backed USC with 17 saves. For the Wildcats, Selena Lasota tallied a team-high five points and Christina Esposito scored a team-best three goals. Despite the loss, Northwestern dominated the draw with a 16-7 edge.
Later that day, fellow MPSF Denver advanced to 4-0 on the season for their best start in program history – but not without a challenge. It took three overtime periods for the Pioneers to defeat Louisville 11-10 behind a hat trick from Elizabeth Behrins, who also scored the game-winning goal.
“This was a great win,” said Denver coach Liza Kelly. “It was a great learning game for us to know we can dig in against a great opponent and come out victorious.”
Louisville’s Meghan Siverson scored the first goal of the game, but back-and-forth two-goal spans for each team had Denver on top at halftime by one. A three-goal run midway through the second half returned the lead to the Cardinals, but Denver’s Julia Feiss tied the game once more and Audrey Schreck took the Pioneers up one at the 4:42 mark.
Madison Hoover knotted it at 10 for the Cardinals’ comeback before the end of regulation, but Behrins’ third goal in overtime sealed the game.
PHOTO BY JIM COWSERT
Duke advances to 4-0 on the season after topping Stanford 12-8 in Texas.
DUKE NETS PATRIOT CUP WIN
No. 8 Duke 12, No. 18 Stanford 8
With a career-high give goals, junior Maddie Crutchfield led Duke past Stanford 12-8 to earn a Patriot Cup victory, hosted at the Ford Center at The Star, the headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys in Frisco, Texas.
"We want to say thank you to the Dallas Cowboys and the HEADstrong Foundation for offering us the opportunity in the Patriot Cup," Duke coach Kerstin Kimel said. "For us to get to play in a non-traditional area in front of what I thought was a great crowd, for an unbelievable cause, was really just a great experience for our players."
The Blue Devils led 4-3 at halftime, but Stanford tied it twice in the second period to knot it at 8 at the 10:40 mark. With under seven minutes left in the game, Duke score four consecutive goals, two by Crutchfield, to wind down the clock for the win.
That final 10 minutes saw a key shot clock violation by the Cardinal that propelled the Blue Devils to its first victory over a ranked opponent this season.
“For us to be in a really tight game this early, on a big stage, was a great test for us,” Kimel said. “It will serve us well as we head into this next stretch of three ACC games."
Duke, now 4-0, next faces Notre Dame, Virginia tech and Louisville, while Stanford drops to 1-2 on the season.