CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina women's lacrosse team fell 19-7 to the Virginia Tech Hokies in a midweek matchup in Conway, S.C. on Wednesday afternoon. With the loss, the Chanticleers dropped to 5-8 on the season, while the Hokies, who received votes in the latest national rankings, improved to 9-7 on the year with the win.
 
The Coastal offense was led by Hannah Close with two goals, while Abi George, Avery McIlwaine, Lauren Cremen, and Kayla Downey each recorded one score for the Chants. Virginia Tech was paced by Olivia Vergano and Sarah Lubnow as both recorded four tallies with Sophie Student and Sam Rippley each finding the back of the net twice in the win.
 
Defensively, the Chanticleers played a pair of goalkeepers with both collecting a combined six saves. Starter Claire Martell making four stops, while Kennedy Manning finished with a pair of saves. The Hokies' starting goalkeeper Morgan Berman finished with five saves, while backup Lilly Kannapell recorded one stop.
 
The Coastal attack opened the match by winning the opening draw and racing down the field to record the first goal with just 29 seconds expiring off the game clock. CCU's Avery Snyder hit a wide-open George in front of the net to go up 1-0. VT answered with its own quick score to even it up at 1-1 as Lubnow scored her first goal of the day. The Chanticleers would jump back out front at 2-1 when Cremen connected with Close for a quick hitter from the right side with 11:26 remaining in the first quarter.
 
Virginia Tech answered with just 1:40 expiring from the game clock to even the game up at 2-2 on Rippley's first goal of the day.
 
After the Hokies' Vergano put the visitors up 3-2 with 8:35 left in the period, Coastal knotted the contest up at 3-3 as Cremen recorded her lone goal on an assist by Downey with just under six minutes left in the first quarter. With just 22 seconds coming off the game clock, McIlwaine grabbed the draw and raced through the VT defense to put the home squad up 4-3, only to see Virginia Tech even the score at 4-4 with 36 seconds left in the first period as Vergano filled the back of the net off a Rippley assist.
 
The Hokies opened the second quarter jumping out with a 5-0 run to go up 9-4 before Close would record her second score of the day and her 10th tally of the year on a free position goal for the 9-5 score at the intermission.
 
In the third and fourth quarters, Virginia Tech outscored the Chanticleers 10-1 to begin the running clock with the 10-goal lead. It was all VT in the third quarter, as they outscored CCU 7-0 to go up 16-5. In the fourth quarter, Coastal's Downey scored the final goal for the home team with 7:31 remaining in regulation. With just 1:09 expiring from the game clock, the Hokies tallied the final score as Sara Goodwin made it 17-6 for the final margin.
 
CCU was outshot 32-16 for the game. VT also held the advantage in ground balls (17-10) and draw controls (16-11).
 
Coastal Carolina will return to action on Saturday, April 16, as the Chants will host ASUN foe Liberty at Brooks Stadium on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. The opening draw is scheduled for noon ET.

For complete coverage of CCU women's lacrosse, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWLax (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUSports.com.