Women’s lax gets walked by the Retrievers
Photo by Ali Jones
VCU women’s lacrosse suffered a tough loss to head coach Jen O’Brien’s alma mater University of Maryland Baltimore County, in the program’s first ever road trip.
UMBC scored three quick goals in the first seven minutes to give them the offensive advantage to start the game. VCU redshirt-freshman midfielder Sky Hyatt took a free position shot in the 10th minute, making the score 3-1.
The Retrievers responded with another three-goal run before Hyatt netted her second goal of the day to get the Rams back on the board with a score of 6-2.
UMBC continued on a strong offensive run, connecting on 58 percent of its shots. The Retrievers ended the half with a 14-3 lead over the Rams.
Throughout the first half and into the second, the Retrievers used ball possession and hard cuts to the crease to keep the offense rolling. With all the offensive pressure, VCU struggled to establish an attack going into their opponent’s territory.
The start of the second half paralleled the first; UMBC set the offensive pace with a goal in the first minute from junior midfielder/attacker Jennie Milligan.
Freshman attack Molly Barcikowski scored her seventh goal of the season after four minutes of play and the score came to 16-4.
Freshman midfielder Ryann Shaughnessy scored her second goal of the season after receiving a pass from redshirt-freshman attack Megan Williamson.
“While we are disappointed on a lot of fronts, we are happy to have this learning experience for our young group so early in the season,” O’Brien said. “We will only continue to improve and grow. This is a wonderful opportunity to do just that. The beauty of our sport is there is another day and another game.”
The final score resulted in the Rams falling 20-5. UMBC outshot the Rams 35-10 and won 10 ground balls while the Rams won three. VCU found the net on 1/3 of its free position shots and went 6-8 on clears.
The Retrievers played tough at the dot and won 24 draw controls while VCU won three. UMBC’s sophomore midfielder Caitlin Miller, who led the America East Conference in draw controls last season, brought in a game high of seven.
“UMBC has a rich lacrosse history and I am proud to have played for such an amazing program,” O’Brien said. “It was good to be back on the field that holds such special memories for me. I look forward to helping our players create memories of their own.”
VCU returns home to Cary Street Field on Feb. 24 against George Mason, with the game-time set for 7 p.m.
Staff Writer, Sophia Belletti
Sophia is a sophomore print/online journalism major with a minor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies. She enjoys writing about current events and sports and hopes to one day be a sports reporter, covering soccer, basketball and baseball. You can usually find Sophia drinking way too much coffee and laughing at her own jokes. // Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
bellettisr@commonwealthtimes.org
