The assistant coaches for women’s lacrosse were asked to coach the team in its road matchup against St. Bonaventure as head coach Jen O’Brien is on maternity leave. The girls defeated the Bonnies, 18-11.
“I am so proud of our girls’ effort this whole weekend,” O’Brien said. “In both games they executed our game plan and played like we have seen them practice all year.”
O’Brien said she was thrilled with her assistant coaches (Meg, Tara and Liz) saying they did an amazing job leading the group this weekend for the first Atlantic 10 win in school history.
Freshman midfielder Sofia Emond scored a career high of five goals against the Bonnies, including three unanswered goals to close the first half.
“We came together as one today,” Emond said. “We decided we would not be satisfied with another loss in conference play and we went after it full throttle. I could not be more proud of my team.”
The Bonnies got off to a strong start early, scoring five goals in the first five minutes to gain the lead 5-2.
Emond retaliated with her second goal and assisted freshman midfielder Blaire Langeler to pull the Rams within one, 5-4.
Emond connected on her third goal of the day with under four minutes to play in the first half to pad the VCU lead. The Tampa Bay native scored two more with less than 30 seconds on the clock to extend the Rams’ lead to 10-6 at halftime.
Redshirt-freshmen midfielder Sky Hyatt and attack Chloe Mujwit opened the second half with goals that pushed VCU’s lead to 12-6. Mujwit added her third goal minutes later, making it a 13-7 contest.
The closest the Bonnies could come to the Rams the rest of the match was 14-9.
Freshman midfielder Mackenzie Galli added a point to the board and Hyatt capped off the victory with her 29th career goal.
“We made history today,” said assistant coach Tara Coyle. “We are so proud of our team, winning our first ever A-10 game. We really want them to enjoy this moment.”
Freshman goalkeeper Ria Peralta made five saves against the Bonnies.
Emond went 5-6 Sunday afternoon, adding four ground balls and winning two draws.
Prior to the historical win, VCU experienced its second conference loss Friday, dropping a close road match to Duquesne University 12-10.
The Dukes got on the board first at the 28 minute mark, but freshman midfielder Clare Murphy responded for VCU with a free position shot.
Duquesne tacked on another goal to retake the lead, but the Rams answered with four consecutive scores from freshman attack Molly Barcikowski, senior defender Bonnie Corrigan, Emond and Murphy to gain an early 5-2 advantage. Corrigan’s score was her first in the black and gold uniform.
After another Dukes goal, Murphy made it a 6-3 contest with her third score of the half, giving her a hat trick before intermission — her third on the season.
Duquesne battled back to make it a one-goal game before Hyatt added another before the half to even the score at 8-8.
VCU took 12 shots in the first period while Duquesne took 18. The Rams went 5-7 on clears and Peralta recorded six saves.
Two goals by Duquesne to open the second frame gave Duquesne its largest advantage at 12-10 before VCU knotted the game at 10 apiece midway through the second half.
“Breaking a stall against a senior team is not easy and our players did it well,” said VCU assistant coach Meg Decker. “The 50/50 balls were our struggle today, but our players know it and are not willing to settle for a close game when we had the win in our hands.”
Murphy found the net three times for her first collegiate hat trick and also won two draw controls.
“My first career hat trick was pretty exciting, but with us, it is always a team goal, no matter who scores it,” Murphy said. “Our team offense set me up perfectly every time. They supported me and I could feel their energy. ”
VCU remains on the road this week, traveling to Davidson for a Friday night matchup.
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