BLACKSBURG, VA – Senior attack Casey McCrudden (at right) scored two goals as the University of Delaware women’s lacrosse team held off a hard-charging Virginia Tech squad 8-7 on Sunday afternoon at Virginia Tech Lacrosse Stadium.

The Hens took a commanding 8-4 lead when freshman midfielder Brittany Davis
beat Virginia Tech goalkeeper Kari Morrison with 10:46 left in the second half. The Hokies stormed back with three straight goals over the final nine minutes, but could
only close the gap to one when Kady McBrearty scored 20 ticks from the final
horn.

Sophomore attack Courtney Aburn won the game’s final draw control – her fifth of the day – to preserve the win for UD, which improved to 5-2 on the season with its second straight one-goal victory.

Seven different players found the net for Delaware, which got one goal and one assist each from sophomore midfielder Emily Schaknowski and senior midfielder Katie Muth.

The Hokies’ Rachel Culp tied the score at three on a free-position shot with 56 seconds left before halftime, but McCrudden answered nine seconds before the horn to give UD a 4-3 lead at intermission.

The Hens rode that momentum into the second period, scoring three consecutive goals in the first 3:04 of the half for a 7-3 edge. McCrudden and Schaknowski fueled the surge, as they fired in unassisted goals just 28 seconds apart, while Aburn capped the run at 26:56 on a feed from Muth.

Culp netted a game-high four goals for the Hokies (2-9, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who lost their fourth straight game and their third in a row by one goal.

The match-up was remarkably close statistically, as each team took 28 shots and collected 14 ground balls. UD won the draw control battle 9-8, while Virginia Tech committed 12 turnovers to the Hens’ 11.

Junior goalkeeper Jessica Cerveny made seven saves for Delaware, including six in the first half. Morrison kept the Hokies in contention with 13 saves of her own.

At 5-2, Delaware is off to its best start since the 2000 team began the season at 7-0. UD defeated Virginia Tech for the second consecutive year, as they topped the Hokies 16-7 last season at Rullo Stadium.

The Blue Hens finished their three-game road swing at 2-1. They return to the field on Friday, when they host Penn State at 3 p.m.

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