Hokie Sports Round-Up: Lacrosse

During the summer of 2021 the Virginia Tech Hokies hired Kristin Skiera to be the head coach of the VT women’s lacrosse team. Skiera knows something about building a college sports team. Prior to her arrival in Blacksburg, she oversaw the Army Black Knights’ women’s lacrosse team transition from a club sport to a varsity program. She guided the team to four consecutive winning seasons before accepting the head coaching position at Virginia Tech. As a player, Kristin was a two-time All-American with the Duke Blue Devils’ lacrosse team and boasts further coaching experience at Navy, Duke, and UC Davis.

Coach Skiera’s initial effort, with the Hokies, found the program improving on its disappointing 5-11 (0.310) overall 2021 season with a 2022 record of 9-9 (0.500) and an ACC record of 2-6 (0.25). The Hokies faced a robust schedule that featured nine ranked matchups, including four top five matchups. In case you didn’t know, the ACC is loaded at women’s lacrosse. UNC and BC have won the last two NCAA Championships. The ACC has appeared in eight of the last ten championship games with four victories in the same period.

Virginia Tech earned two standout victories over the course of this past spring. The first being their second game of the season against then No. 13 James Madison. Until that point VT had never beaten JMU (2018 National Champions) and had lost 18 consecutive games to the Dukes. Not this time though! Coach Skiera’s first win with the Hokies saw VT defeat JMU, 10-9! Their second win over a ranked team was collected against the No. 15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish who the Hokies defeated 13-12. VT nearly collected another victory over a ranked team when they faced Skiera’s alma mater, the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils were able to survive the Hokies comeback bid and took the win, 15-14.

Coach Skiera looks to be another solid Whit Babcock hire, and the future is looking bright for the women of Virginia Tech lacrosse!

GO HOKIES!!!