Sung sounds off on fall season, looks toward the spring

Squad welcomed new faces, developed chemistry

November 8, 2017

BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech lacrosse team wrapped up its fall season this week. In the fall, Tech competed on five dates across three different states, giving the squad a chance to test itself against several opponents and diverse schemes.

Coach John Sung reflected on the fall in a conversation below.

On taking a look back at the fall:
SUNG: “Overall, I thought it was a good starting point for year two. The upperclassmen felt a lot more comfortable—they were used to practice, they were used to the speed, they were used to the intensity. I thought all the returners did a really good job of just getting through practice. It probably felt like a lot just playing three road games in the last three weeks.”

On the approach for the fall season
SUNG: “Being my second year here, I think we were still trying to build upon last year and trying to build our foundation. We brought in a big freshman class and they needed to get acclimated as fast as they could. We spent a lot of time trying to get them to figure out what it takes to become a Division I lacrosse player and what it takes to be in the ACC. How to compete was one of the biggest things we looked forward to this fall season.”

On how the squad performed and how they will move forward:
SUNG: “We had a lot of success which was great from an on field standpoint. We were very competitive in all our games. We did a lot of things tactically very well. I think as we head to the spring we need to clean up some stuff and work on our individual skillsets through the next couple months before we get to preseason.”

On who has stood out during the fall season:
SUNG: “I think all of our seniors have all done a really good job. Tristan McGinley and Emma Harden on the attacking side have really stepped up. Mary Claire Byrne, Marissa Davey in the midfield have done well. We’re pretty senior-heavy defensively with four starting senior defenders and Meagh Graham in goal. I thought Meagh was as consistent as she could possibly be after coming off of last year.”

On getting the new players into the mix:
SUNG: “We have a couple new freshman that I was excited to see. I think some of the first-years will get some playing time and they’ll be able to help us out. A lot of it is going to be just making sure they’re going to be ready for the competition level.”

On the returning players:
SUNG: “From the returning group, we have a lot of kids with a lot of experience. They played a lot of minutes last year for me. I think they’re really starting to see the technical side of the game, especially the older kids and they’re working on their technique which will hopefully make us a little better and get us through some of these tighter games.”

Final thoughts:
SUNG: “We made progress every weekend, we had individuals step up through the fall. A lot of the fall is just trying to figure out the chemistry of the group and figure out who’s going to play well with each other and what kind of different looks we can see in the spring. What we probably hold stock in the most is getting reps against other teams and getting an opportunity to compete so we can look back and say what we didn’t do well and how can we be better when our season comes.”

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