Mercer Drops Season Opener To Virginia Tech

Saturday, February 17

Macon, Ga.

12 p.m.

Mercer University

0-1

Virginia Tech

2-1

Virginia Tech

Mercer

2/17/2024 4:43:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

Kayla Soltys led Mercer offensively with three goals

MACON, Ga. - The Mercer women's lacrosse team couldn't overcome a slow start in its 21-8 season opening loss to Virgnia Tech on Saturday from Five Star Stadium.

With the Hokies already with two games under their belt, they jumped out to an early 9-1 lead in the first quarter and proved too much for the Bears to overcome.

Virginia Tech outshot the Bears 34-20 with a 28-15 shots on goal advantage. The Hokies also had the advantage in the draw circle where they won 20-of-30 draws on the day.

Kayla Soltys led the Bears offensively with three goals on five shots. Freshman Ansley Walters scored the first goal of the season and of her career for the Bears in the first quarter.

On defense, freshman Fiona Tanis got the start and led the Bears with five caused turnovers and two ground balls on the day. Kate Vanderlinde and Kayla Casey each saw action in goal with Vanderlinde making five saves and Casey two.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Ansley Walters scored Mercer's first goal of the season less than three minutes into the game to tie it at one all. Virginia Tech would score the next eight goals to take a 9-1 lead with just under four minutes to play in the quarter. The Bears would score the last two goals of the quarter as Gabby DiVirgilio scored a man-up goal and Caroline Glus scored one minute later to make it a 9-3 game after the first quarter.

The first half of the second quarter was evenly played as each team scored twice in the opening eight minutes of the quarter. Sandy Salit and Kayla Soltys scored Mercer's goals. Virginia Tech would score three goals over the final four minutes, with two coming from a man-up advantage as the Hokies led 15-5 at halftime.

The Hokies held the Bears without a goal in the third quarter while scoring three themselves to stretch their lead to 18-5 going into the fourth quarter.

Maddi Koury scored just over one minute into the fourth quarter. Soltys would score two goals in the fourth to complete her hat trick.

NOTABLES

Three freshman for the Bears started: Fiona Tanis, Kellie Voorhees, and Ansley Walters
Soltys' three goals equals her season high from last year when she scored three goals in a game twice
Virginia Tech scored on 4-of-5 free position shots while the Bears were 0-for-3

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Women's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerWLAX (Twitter) and @Mercerwlax (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.