Seven Hokies Secrue Multi-Goal Games to Fuel Virginia Tech's 21-10 Victory Over Furman

By Will Locklin

Staff Writer

March 15, 2022

Olivia Vergano charged into the 8-meter fan determined to keep the pressure on. Virginia Tech was up by an astounding 10 goals but that didn’t matter to the reigning ACC Player of the Week. The freshman fired another laser into the back of the net and scored her sixth goal of the game, the most scored in a single game by a Tech player this season.

This goal, scored in the final minute of play, put the Hokies up by 11 over Furman. Soon after, the clock expired and Virginia Tech was victorious for a fifth straight game and improved to 5-2 in non-conference play and 7-3 overall with a 21-10 win on the road in Greenville S.C.

Virginia Tech outscored Furman in all four periods, starting with a Furman goal scored by Paige Harman, but the Hokies stuck back soon after. Naturally, Vergano and Sophie Student got the scoring started as they both netted two early goals each to put Tech up 4-2 in the 1st period.

Vergano and Student are the two leading goal scorers on the Hokies with 27 and 24, respectively. After a response from Furman by Hannah Dintino, Tech poured in another two goals to end the first period. The first was from team captain Sarah Lubnow and the other by none other than Vergano.

In the second period, the pace of play slowed down for a six minute stretch. After a Hannah Mardiney goal in the first minute, there was a six minute stretch with no goals on either side. That run was broken by Whitney Liebler who scored her 14th goal of the season and now has 36 points this year.

From there the two teams exchanged runs. The Paladins scored two goals in a row courtesy of Meagan Beal and Ryan Bionda. It put them within three goals of VT at 8-5. However, the Hokies went on a mighty three-goal run and scored all within the span of less than two minutes.

Again Furman responded with a three-goal run but the Hokies came back scoring four goals to essentially put the game on ice late in the third period. For good measure, Virginia Tech put in the dagger and notched the final five goals of the game.

It was a thoroughly dominating victory that saw the Hokies overpower the Paladins in a few major stats. Tech held a 42-20 shots advantage and a 33-13 shots on goal advantage. The Tech defense came to play as it forced 18 Furman turnovers.

The Hokies also went 16-17 on their clears and nearly doubled Furman up in ground balls 25-13. There was a fierce battle for the draw control though that saw Furman with the small 18-17 edge.

In total, there were lots of players who had some of the best performances of their career. Vergano led the team in scoring with six goals and two assists for eight total points. Lubnow and Student both had hat tricks that they earned in the second half. Four other Hokies scored two goals including Liebler, Frank, Nelson, and Schotta.

Virginia Tech will move on to play No. 3 Syracuse Orange at Thompson Field this Saturday at 1 p.m. Furman drops to 0-3 and will travel to Emmitsburg, Maryland to face off against Mount St. Mary’s this Saturday at 3 p.m.