Lacrosse wins pair of tight conference road matchups

Lacrosse won a pair of hotly contested A-10 matchups on the road last week with a 13-8 victory over Saint Bonaventure University Saturday after downing the Dukes of Duquesne University 11-9 Friday evening.

St. Bonaventure

For the second part of their two game road trip, the Rams went up to New York to face off against the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies. The Black and Gold pulled out a hard fought 13-8 victory in the frigid Allegheny foothills.

The Bonnies were a winless team desperate for a victory, so this was no easy game for the Rams. VCU started off fast, getting a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes.

Junior midfielders Sofia Emond and Claire Murphy scored early goals for VCU. The Bonnies responded by two goals of their own back to back — Destinee Johnson and Rylee Arnold scored for the Bonnies.

The remainder of the first half was neck and neck, even though VCU either held the lead or was tied throughout the period. The Black and Gold led 6-5 going into the break.

VCU heated up out of the locker room, scoring three straight goals and pushing their lead from 6-5 to 9-5 quickly. All three of the goals were unassisted.

With twelve minutes remaining in the game, redshirt junior midfielder Sky Hyatt scored once again. This was her third goal of the game, giving her a hat trick on the day. Just to put the cherry on top Hyatt scored her fourth goal of the day with six minutes remaining.

Hyatt was the catalyst for VCU. The Black and Gold ended up stealing one on the road with a final score of 13-8.

Duquesne

Lacrosse started a two game road trip last week with a journey to Pennsylvania to take on the Dukes of Duquesne University, where the Black and Gold pulled out a back and forth 11-9 victory.

The Rams were looking to end a two-game skid in this game. The contest was back and forth through both halves. VCU still held a 2-1 lead through the first ten minutes of the game, with the two goals coming from Emond and junior attack Molly Barcikowski.

Barcikowski’s goal came out of the free shot position. The Dukes came back strong and took their first lead of the game right before halftime — Jill Vacanti scored twice to help Duquesne take a 4-3 lead heading into the break.

Coming out of halftime, the Dukes scored within the first minute of the second period, giving them their largest lead of the game at only two points.

VCU quickly got out of that two point deficit and once they took the lead, they never trailed again. Barcikowski tied the game at 6 apiece with just over fourteen minutes remaining.

Sophomore midfielder Keriann Mctavish put the dagger in the Dukes and secured the victory for the Black and Gold when she scored with just over one minute left.

Mctavish was one of multiple Rams who scored more than two goals in this game.

Joining her were teammates Barcikowski, junior midfielder Blaire Langeler, and sophomore attack / midfielder Isabella Evans-Riester.

VCU went on to win 11-9 to break their losing streak and star their road trip 1-0.

The Black and Gold finished off their two game road trip undefeated and will face off against George Washington University next Friday.

Nile McNair, Contributing writer