2023 Women's Top 30: How Virginia Tech Fared vs. Projections

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2024, our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking one last look at 2023.

After all, you have to look at the most recent results before making projections for what’s to come. To do that, we’re taking a journey through the top 30 teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse — what went right, what went wrong and what we should all think of that team’s season.

Was it a success? A failure? A mixture of both? You’ll find out our thoughts over the next month or so.

VIRGINIA TECH WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Nike/USA Lacrosse Preseason/Final Top 20 Ranking: Unranked/Unranked
2023 record: 10-9 (3-6 ACC)

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Outside of a few drubbings in the ACC, Virginia Tech wasn’t a pushover in the nation’s toughest conference. They played the elite teams close and suffered two-goal losses to Boston College and Syracuse and a four-goal loss to North Carolina. (They also lost to James Madison 8-6 out of conference.) The Hokies were gritty all spring and leaned on the possession edge gained from the exploits of Sarah Gresham (111 draw controls) and Olivia Vergano (106 draw controls). Vergano also led the offense with team highs in goals (50), assists (15) and points (65). Ella Rishko emerged during her freshman campaign with 44 goals on 49.4-percent shooting. Her 76.4 shot on goal percentage was the highest of anyone on the team who put 50 or more shots on cage.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Consistency was hard to come by, even if Virginia Tech did play a difficult schedule. The offense also seemed rather one dimensional in that it relied heavily on dodgers to create for themselves. Virginia Tech averaged just 4.84 assists per game (on 12.42 goals per game), which ranked 67th nationally.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

A two-game stretch in which Virginia Tech took down Duke in triple overtime and then beat Louisville 17-7 a week later. The Duke win was especially notable. Maura O’Malley scored a player-down goal with 2 seconds left to force overtime, then she scored in the third extra frame to secure an emotional win.

VERDICT

Virginia Tech had both high points (the aforementioned two-game winning streak in the ACC) and low points (a four-game losing streak after a season-opening win against VCU). Overall, the Hokies remain far from ACC supremacy, but they remain more than capable of notching a few quality wins per season. Nothing exemplified that more than the 2023 campaign.