Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 4 | March 2018

38 Inside Hokie Sports life, I wasn’t used to. Balancing my sport, my schoolwork and a social life, I wasn’t good at. I missed home like crazy. I was so homesick that I wasn’t functioning.” Fortunately, lacrosse season started the following semester and commanded her sole attention for a two-hour window each day. And as she focused, she became better at her sport. In fact, she started her first collegiate game and scored a goal in her second. Her numbers that season wound up being modest, as she scored six goals. But one came against then-No. 7 Syracuse and another came against then-No. 2 North Carolina. Those sparked an unshakeable confidence within her. She has started every game since—a span of 45 straight entering an ACC game against Notre Dame on March 11. Her 50 goals last season as a junior ranked as the sixth best in a single season at Tech. That total includes four that came against Boston College and helped the Hokies snap a 27-game ACC losing streak. “I think it’s again a fit into a system,” Sung said. “She fits into what we do, and it’s also us instilling confidence in her to be like, ‘Hey, we trust you. We want you to do this.’ She understands what our expectations are and that we know how she can grow. All those things have been great for her development. “She’s developed a lot. I wish she was a sophomore because I know how much better she can get. She’s not hit her ceiling at this point. It’s my job as a coach to get it all out of her.” An NCAA Tournament appearance would be a great way to cap a tremendous career. If she maintains her current pace, McGinley will depart as one of the top 10 goal scorers in Virginia Tech history, becoming one of just 11 players in the 23-year history of the program to score more than 100 goals. Competitive lacrosse probably comes to an end for McGinley at the conclusion of this season. Rest assured, though, bigger plans are in the works. Her intent is to start nursing school at one of the Philadelphia schools in August or September. Tech lacks a nursing program, but her coursework here in human development providedherwithnearly all of the pre-requisites and enables her to enroll in an accelerated program at whichever school she chooses. “I’ll do a program that takes about a year or less, and then hopefully, I’ll be at a hospital,” TAKING HER Continued from page 36 Tristan McGinley’s goal-scoring prowess has made her the Virginia Tech lacrosse program’s first Tewaaraton Award nominee, an award that goes to the best player in college lacrosse.