While most teams use the early season for tune-up games, the University of Richmond's women's lacrosse team has decided to take the opposite approach.
Richmond's Wednesday tilt against Virginia is sandwiched between a game against Duke and a match against Maryland, arguably the three best teams in the ACC. The Spiders enter Wednesday's game at 0-1 after falling to the Blue Devils, 18-8.
Virginia coach Julie Myers sees the spirited Richmond team as a good early-season test for her young squad.
"It's going to be a very feisty, very aggressive game," Myers said. "Richmond is going to really pressure out on us, they're going to try to pressure our transition and try to really take it to us."
The Cavaliers will be looking to pull away from Richmond early and continue their dominance to ensure that this game is not as close as their previous two contests. Virginia squeaked by Vanderbilt by a single goal in Nashville and almost gave up a four-goal lead against Temple before prevailing by two goals.
"You don't want to keep [the opponents] that close," senior captain Meredith Lazarus said. "If you get up, you want to stay up."
Virginia did exactly that the last time the two teams met. Senior Tyler Leachman scored seven goals against the Spiders, who mustered only two first-half goals en route to an 11-5 Cavalier victory.
Despite a clear talent disparity, Richmond has a group of players with playmaking skills that can potentially cause trouble for defenders.
"They have a handful of really solid players that are good one-on-one kids who are ready to draw and dump as well," Myers said.
Lazarus sees Richmond as a good barometer of how Virginia is playing as a team.
"Richmond is always a good test," Lazarus said. "They're in-state, a pretty solid team, and we always need to play a pretty good game against them."
The team will be looking to cut down on the mistakes that have plagued their first two games by maintaining a focus on the fundamentals and minimizing mistakes.
"I think if we focus on a couple of things we need to clean up from today, like draws, like ground balls, and possessions, I think we should be in good shape," Myers said.
With so many new players in the starting lineup, gaining experience in these early games is key for the Cavaliers down the road. Myers hopes to use early season games to work on as many aspects of the team's play as possible in order to prepare for the ACC season and the postseason.
"I think what our team needs right now [is] just going out there and competing together as Virginia against other opponents," Myers said. "We need to see what we can keep improving on."
Wednesday begins a crucial stretch for the Cavaliers, who play five games in the next 12 days. This stretch includes conference battles against Maryland and Boston College.
"This stretch in particular is important to get through -- hopefully with a bunch of wins," Lazarus said.
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