Orange Crushed: No. 24 Virginia Tech fall at home to No. 3 Syracuse, 17-5

By Duncan Weigand

Staff Writer

March 19, 2022

BLACKSBURG –– Meaghan Tyrell stood on the perimeter and waited to make a move. She stared at her teammate, who controlled the ball around the left side of the arc, then noticed the Hokie defender get pulled away from her spot as she made two steps over to the left side to play help defense.

Tyrell took the opportunity to make a quick cut towards the net. Natalie Smith saw her streaking teammate and wasted no time throwing a lob to her. The ball just got by the Virginia Tech defender. Tyrell secured the ball, turned and fired a shot just over the head of Morgan Berman –– exactly where she placed the ball on her first goal of the game.

The ball found the back of the net to tie the score at two apiece. The horn fired twice in rapid succession signaling a timeout on the field. Virginia Tech head coach Kristen Skiera called over her team, who had just blown a two-goal lead.

The Hokies would become familiar with the horn sounding directly after goals throughout the course of the game. Skiera used all her timeouts she was given, all four times directly after Syracuse goals.

It was a breezy Blacksburg day but beautiful nonetheless. The Hokies got an early start as they were out doing warmups five minutes before the Orange came out to do theirs. Syracuse would be a true test for the Hokies.

The Orange (6-2) came into the game ranked third in the nation. It had also lost its last game, 14-5, to the Florida Gators. Syracuse has been quite impressive this year despite the loss, and were undefeated in ACC play coming into the game. The Orange were hungry for a win.

Virginia Tech (7-3) was looking to get its third win in ACC play following a massive win against Fordham, a game when it put up a whopping 21 goals while only allowing 10. Virginia Tech was playing arguably its best lacrosse of the season, and a win would be its sixth in a row.

A favorable false start call on the opening draw for the Hokies drew the ire of the Syracuse faithful who made the trek from upstate New York to Blacksburg. Sarah Lubnow, who had a great day offensively, got the game started off by driving to the net and shaking a defender. She then noticed the defenders misstep and wasted no time putting a shot on net. The ball fell to the lower left side of the net and Tech took a one-goal lead just over a minute into the game.

Whitney Liebler then found the back of the net, giving the Hokies a two-goal lead and the crowd plenty to cheer about. Tech had scored two goals without allowing any offensive zone time for Syracuse.

However, after a charging foul on a Hokie attacker gave Syracuse its first offensive possession of the game.

Tyrell and the Orange finally woke up.

Syracuse netted six unanswered goals, the first four coming on just five offensive possessions. The Hokies seemed fatigued and outmatched. Syracuse set the tempo and forced their will on the Virginia Tech defense, one that didn’t look like the Tech defense that had won five straight coming into the game. Coach Skiera knew it too, as she barked orders from the sideline.

Grace New beat the buzzer as she recieved a pass with pinpoint accuracy from Sarah Lubnow, who has the knack for ball movement.

That goal gave Lubnow her 69th career assist, making her Virginia Tech’s all-time assist leader, one of the only bright spots for Virginia Tech in the game.

For the next 21 minutes, Tech didn’t score, and Syrcause took advantage.

Six turned into seven. Then seven turned to 10. By the time Virginia Tech got the ever-elusive fourth goal, it was too little, too late. With a running clock and just a quarter-and-a-half left to play, the Hokies were down 13-4.

Virginia Tech looked dejected and it looked like it had given up at halftime. Fans slowly began to trickle out of the stadium as the game continued to get more and more out of hand.

A quick goal followed by 3 more goals from Emily Hawryschuk of Syracuse gave the Orange a whopping 17-4 lead.

Lubnow continued her offensive dominance as she netted a fifth goal for the Hokies in garbage time.

The Hokies were absolutely outmatched and Syracuse proved why they were third in the nation in an absolutely crushing performance. The Orange controlled all facets of play.

The loss on Saturday was the Hokies worst loss by goal differential. It was also the most goals Virginia Tech had allowed all season.

Coach Skiera didn’t even do her usual post game huddle after the game. The Hokies shook hands with their opponents and ran off the field and straight into the locker rooms.

Skiera talked about outliers earlier this season after the Jacksonville game, and this one another outlier, though it came against a powerhouse in the sport.

Virginia Tech will be back at Thompson for a 4 p.m. start against Elon (3-5), a team it should be able to beat handedly. Elon has already lost twice to ACC teams, including a 25-5 loss to Duke in its second game of the season.