Hokies Fall to Mercer in Physical Contest

For their third game of the season, Virginia Tech took on Mercer University at home on a sunny Thompson Field. The Hokies were looking to redeem themselves from their close 8-6 loss against No. 12 JMU earlier this week, while the Mercer University Bears were just hoping to start their season off strong, as this was their first game.

This non-conference match proved to be a physical one, with both teams committing fouls left and right. Throughout the first half, the competition was looking pretty even. The first goal of the game was scored by Mercer’s Erin Degnan. The Hokies then went on an offensive streak, scoring four unanswered goals. Blair Guy had both the first and third goals for the Hokies, and Olivia Vergano had the second and fourth.

After the Hokies’ hot streak of four goals back to back, the Bears countered back with a streak of their own. They went on to score three goals, evening the score to 4-4. Virginia Tech’s Kayla Frank gave the Hokies the lead but that was soon taken away when Mercer’s offense scored two more goals before the clock would expire leading into the second half, with the score reading 6-5.

In the start of the second half, the Bears were able to keep their momentum going as the dangerous offensive duo of Shannon Urey and Chloe Schaeffer worked together to extend the Bears lead to 9-5. At this point in the game Virginia Tech was struggling to find the back of Mercer’s net. After a string of failed offensive attempts for Tech, Guy was able to break through the Mercer defense scoring her third goal of the game, putting the Hokies within three goals at the close of the third quarter.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Hokies were still hopeful until Lyndsey Lewis put the ball in the back of the Hokies net, extending the Bears’ lead even further. However, the Hokies still put up a fight. Frank continued leading Virginia Tech’s offense and scored her second and third goals of the game, to make the score 10-8 with four minutes to go on the clock. Shortly after, Urey capitalized on another opportunity for the Bears and scored her fourth of the match, putting the Hokies out of reach. Mercer ended up winning both an extremely physical and competitive game against Virginia Tech.

Despite the loss, Coach Skiera was proud of Blair Guy and Kayla Frank for playing fearlessly and aggressively. She called them Virginia Tech’s “energizer bunnies”, as they kept the Hokies in the game with their combined six goals. She also went on to say that the young team has a lot of preparation to do before they take on the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels next Friday, February 24th. The game will take place under the lights at Thompson Field at 7 p.m.