UVa. baseball shut out by Liberty at home
The Virginia baseball team lost 8-0 to Liberty Tuesday afternoon at Davenport Field. It marked the Cavaliers’ first regular-season midweek loss at home since April 8, 2009, against Stony Brook, a streak of 28-consecutive games.
Virginia (5-2-1) collected two hits against the Flames’ pitching staff, a second-inning Colin Harrington (Jr., Johnstown, Pa.) single and a ninth-inning Brandon Downes (Fr., South Plainfield, N.J.) single.
Liberty (9-1) finished with 11 hits, including two from Michael Robertson and Trey Wimmer. Read more
VMI rally falls short at Liberty
Stan Okoye returned from injury to post 21 points and 12 rebounds, but a second half rally by VMI fell short in the waning moments as the Liberty Flames defeated the Keydets, 78-69, in Big South basketball action Tuesday night in Lynchburg, Va.
The Keydets (12-14, 7-9 Big South) trailed by as many as 17 in the opening half, but VMI fought its way back after halftime. Down by 15 at intermission, and with 17:51 to play, the Keydets drew within single digits with 15:17 remaining after a Jordan Weethee three-pointer. From there, the lead was gradually cut down, piece by piece, until a thunderous Okoye dunk with 3:04 remaining made it a 69-66 game. Read more
VMI clamps down on Liberty, 71-57
Stan Okoye had 18 points, 16 in the second half, and the VMI Keydets held the Liberty Flames to the lowest point total for an opponent in over three years as VMI defeated Liberty, 71-57, in Big South basketball action Tuesday night at Cameron Hall.
Okoye did not start Tuesday’s contest, but his VMI (8-9, 3-4 Big South) teammates picked him up with a strong defensive effort, holding Liberty (5-13, 0-6) to just 24 points in the first half.
The junior’s 16 second half points fueled his team’s 55.2% shooting (16 for 29) in that period, and the strong defensive effort continued as well, as the Keydets held the Flames’ Jesse Sanders, last year’s Big South Player of the Year, to a season-low three points and season-low equaling three assists en route to pulling away for the win. Read more
Liberty women top Radford
Liberty started its New Year’s Eve celebration a few hours early by opening its Big South Conference schedule with a hard-fought 76-68 win at Radford Saturday afternoon. The Lady Flames used a 16-0 run early in the second half to break open a close game, and held off several rally attempts by the Highlanders down the stretch at the Dedmon Center.
The Lady Flames, who leveled their overall record at 6-6, start the Big South schedule at 1-0 for the 11th time in the last 12 years. Liberty, which put four players in double figures in the scoring column, shot a season-best 60.5 percent (26-of-43) from the field for the contest.
Radford drops to 6-6 overall and 0-1 in conference play, despite forcing 39 Liberty turnovers and turning the miscues into 42 points. It was the fifth straight season the Lady Flames have posted a win inside the Dedmon Center. Read more
No. 6 UVa. women blast Liberty
The No. 6 Virginia women’s soccer team had its biggest offensive explosion in six years as it downed Liberty 9-1 Friday night in front of 1,183 fans at Klöckner Stadium. Caroline Miller (Rockville, Md.) led the Cavalier attack, posting Virginia’s first hat trick in three seasons.
“This was a good result for us,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “Any time we play an in-state opponent, we know we are going to get their best shot. We have known that we have a lot of players who can score, and that was certainly evident on the box score tonight. That kind of scoring distributionis something we have always stressed. We have shown that already this season and hopefully that continues.”
Miller led a group of seven different goal scorers on thenight. In addition, nine different Cavaliers recorded an assist, led by Shasta Fisher’s (Saugus, Calif.) first two career assists.
The Cavaliers (3-0-0) took the lead in the 17th minute as Morgan Brian (St. Simons Island, Ga.) buried a shot from the top of the 18-yard box. Olivia Brannon (Troy, Mich.) scored her first career goal in the 23rd minute as she headed home a Molly Menchel (Alexandria, Va.) corner kick. Miller scoredher first goal of the evening in the 38th minute as she dribbled through numerous defenders before slotting home a shot from 10 yards out. Emily Perrin (Charlottesville, Va.) scored her first career goal when she headed in a Fisher cross in the 41st minute. Erica Hollenberg (Fairfax Station, Va.) closed out the first half scoring in the 43rd minute when she knocked in a cross from Danielle Colaprico (Freehold, N.J.) to give Virginia a 5-0 lead at the break.
Virginia extended the lead to 6-0 in the 48th minute as Millerblasted in her second goal of the night. She completed her hat trick in the 53rd minute, off a cross from Lauren Alwine (Elizabethtown, Pa.). Amber Fry (Northfield, Ill.) recorded her first goal of the season in the 71st minute as she scored off a give-and-go with Gloria Douglas (Fayetteville, N.C.). Douglas scored Virginia’s final goal of the night in the 79th minute as she found the back of the net from the top of the 18-yard box. Liberty (0-1-0) scored its goal in the 88th minute as Aimee Luurtsema scored on a breakaway after a through ball from Megan Warner.
Miller recorded the 11th hat trick in school history, the first since Sinead Farrelly accomplished the feat at Clemson in 2008. She also tied school records with three goals and seven points in a game.
The Cavaliers’ nine goals were their most since a 9-0 win over Richmond in 2005.
Overall Virginia outshot Liberty 24-6, and had a 10-0 cornerkick edge. Chantel Jones (Midlothian, Va.) made two saves for the Cavaliers, while Karen Blocker made four saves for the Flames.
A look at NCAA baseball tourney prospects for local teams
Report by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
#1 UVa. and #15 Virginia Tech are looking good, Liberty is on the bubble, and JMU, VCU and VMI are in need of wins in their conference tournaments. That’s the quick and dirty on the postseason hopes for the top contenders in D1 college baseball in Virginia. Read more
One and done: Local women’s teams out of NCAAs
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Monica Wright, Dawn Evans and Devon Brown did their parts, but UVa., JMU and Liberty each fell short in their first-round NCAA Tournament games over the weekend.
Wright had 34 points and nine rebounds in her final game as a Cavalier, which saw fifth-seeded Virginia fall 69-67 to 12th-seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sunday. Read more
