Blog: Tough Pill to Swallow
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Hello and thanks for clicking on my blog! My name is Ginger Miles and as Virginia’s women’s lacrosse volunteer assistant coach – and former goalkeeper – I’ve decided to give anyone who’s interested a behind the scenes look at life on the road with our women’s lacrosse team. We’re certainly a fun bunch and I’ll be posting weekly with the inside scoop. Thanks for reading!
Tuesday March 24th
Tonight we loaded the bus to headed over the mountain to play JMU. After a disappointing loss at home on Saturday, the girls were eager to prove that they can put the ball in the back of the net and boy did we ever. The UVa fans that made the trip to Harrisonburg (mostly parents) were treated to a hearty 19 goals. After a close first half, the girls really hit their stride in the second half to pull away. This was the first time all season that we looked like the powerful UVa teams of the past. All over the field, players stepped up to make not just the big plays, but also the little plays. They scrapped for draw controls, caused turnovers in the midfield, worked to gain extra possessions and created multiple scoring opportunities. We finally played to our potential. We won the game by a pretty wide spread and a lot of players got to play, which nice to see, but most importantly, we regained some of the confidence we’d lost these past couple weekends. With this newfound confidence, I think we’re ready to take on Duke this Saturday.
Saturday March 28th
Despite overcast skies and light drizzle it was quite a beautiful lacrosse day in Charlottesville. This weekend was a big ACC doubleheader on Klckner, as the men faced Maryland before our game against Duke. Klckner Stadium was packed to the gills as 5,000+ fans filled the stands and the grassy hill for the men’s game. Tied 9-9 at the end of regulation, we watched from the sideline as we waited for our game. After SEVEN overtime periods (and what seemed like 30 time outs) Brian Carroll finally stuck the game winner to end what was the longest game in Division I history. It was a historical day for the men and their momentum energized us for our game against Duke.
We played well. We jumped out to an early lead and the girls seemed to be playing with the same confidence that they had Wednesday night. Both teams seemed to score clumps of goals, so it’s tough to say if any one team dominated the other. Duke went on a six-goal run that really hurt, but we managed to go into the half down only 7-8 after two late goals. The second half was fairly even and with eight minutes left, the score was tied 12-12. Both teams battled to get good looks but with the final minutes waning and the score still tied, OT looked like a distinct possibility. We hoped to end the game in regulation and had possession to take that last shot, but we never managed to get a shot off. On the turnover, Duke went down and scored leaving just 11 seconds left on the clock.
UVa/Duke games always produce what seem to be epic matchups. Both teams being so evenly matched, these games are often battles of will and heart as much as they are goals and saves. This game, however, wasn’t lost because of heart. Today the girls fought hard and I’m proud of the effort, which makes this one a really tough pill to swallow. This game could have just as easily been a win were it not for a few mental mistakes, momentary lapses in focus and tiny errors that caught up with us in the end. Again, we will learn from this and hopefully the sting from this loss drives us to be even better in our next battle against ODU.
Every day I am so fortunate to see what these girls are capable of and I know we will bounce back from this. This team has the potential to do great things and we all know it. Just you wait…
We face off against ODU on Wednesday and then we’re up to Boston to play Boston College and Harvard! It’s going to be a great trip so check back in next week.
Go Hoos!
Ginger