The AU lacrosse team dropped their second game in a row by a score of 17-12 at Virginia Tech on Saturday in Blacksburg, Va.
Senior midfielder Amanda Makoid led AU with four goals and an assist in the contest. Senior attacker Lisa Schaaf matched her career high of four points with two goals and two assists. Despite their best efforts, the Eagles fell short against the Hokies.
Virginia Tech jumped out to an early lead, scoring the first five goals of the game and nine of the first 10. AU fought back and scored six straight goals before the end of the first half. The scores came from sophomore midfielder Emily Stankiewicz, Makoid, Emily Burton and from Schaaf. The score stood at 9-5 heading into the half.
After the intermission, AU scored two times in the first two minutes to make the score 9-7. Makoid scored at the 28:16 mark and freshman Burton found the back of the net 15 seconds later.
However, the Hokies scored three unanswered goals to expand their lead to 12-7. Two of the three goals came from freshman attacker Julia Heaps who finished the day with a total of three scores. The other goal came from sophomore attacker, Morgan Widlake.
The Eagles fought back for a second time, scoring three of the next four. Sam Marshall scored her 12th goal of the season at 22:58. Virginia Tech picked up yet another goal from Heaps. Then AU’s Chiara Speziale scored her 18th of the season from a free position shot, as did Brit Ferguson for her fourth of the year.
AU trailed 13-10 before the Hokies went on another run, scoring four goals, two more from Widlake and two from junior Caitlyn Wier, in the next 11 minutes. Widlake led all players with six goals in the game.
AU added two late goals from Maeve Koch and Makoid, which were their fifth and 29th goals on the season, respectively. But the deficit proved to be too much to overcome. The loss to Virginia Tech dropped the Eagles overall record to 5-9 on the season.
The Eagles are back in action on Sunday, April 18 for their final home game of the season. They take on the Davidson College Wildcats who have an overall record of 6-7. After Davidson, AU will finish out the season visiting College of the Holy Cross.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
