Following an overtime loss on Wednesday to Penn State, the Panthers sought to bounce back aggressively against their next opponent, Virginia Tech, on Sunday. And they did just that, pulling off a 10-8 win over the Hookies.
Holding them to a shutout in the first quarter, senior goalkeeper Molly Cain had a standout day. Cain helped the Panthers’ defense stay sturdy throughout and maintain their lead at all times during the game, making an impressive 10 saves on the day.
“You kind of got to move on from last game,” said Cain. “Kind of a clear reset. I do what I always did, watch film, nothing different. You treat this like any other game. We came out hard and saw a gritty win.”
Cain was also awarded the honor of being the all-time saves leader in Pitt women’s lacrosse history with over 200 saves.
“It’s really exciting,” said Cain. “I had no idea that was coming up, so it was definitely exciting.”
Propelling the Panthers to victory was junior midfielder Kaitlyn Giandonato, who scored half of Pitt’s points with an astounding five-goal outing. Giandonato’s scoring has been so impressive that she was previously just named the IWCLA national player of the week.
“I have been seeing those awards since I was a little kid. So seeing myself get it, I just think it’s like a dream come true,” said Giandonato.
When asked about what motivated her to reach such heights in her career, Giandonato gave all the praise to her teammates and the support they gave her.
“I trust myself and trust my teammates,” said Giandonato. “Because they have already believed in me so much that I just need to believe that I can achieve it, they are always there for me.”
The Panthers have a tough three-game stretch ahead as they face the Fighting Irish away, who are currently 4-1, but it was Pitt’s first-ranked win last year after defeating the Irish. Then they play Virginia at home, who are currently just 2-3 but have been a force to be reckoned with in the past, and just beat the undefeated Notre Dame. Lastly, the Panthers face the current national champions, the North Carolina Tar Heels, away. This, however, has not rattled the players by any means.
“We normally call our games game four, game five, game six,” said Giandonato. “It is just like we’re playing any other team. That is the kind of mindset we have, and we’re going to keep this wave going through these next couple of games.”
Viewing the upcoming schedule as just one game after another and not putting emphasis on the difficulty of the opponents makes them believe they can truly beat anyone. This is what the players signed up for when joining the newly founded lacrosse team, five years ago now.
“At the same time, we kind of live for these games,” said Cain. “These are why we joined the team in this conference, so I think it is a really exciting three-game stretch. It’s gonna be hard, gonna be gritty, but it’s gonna be really exciting.”
Also looking at the road ahead was head coach Emily Boissonneault, who capitalized on the team’s strong performance today while also understanding that there will always be room for improvement.
“I think right now for us, it’s more about our mental play, more than it is our physical,” said Boissonneault. “We’re putting ourselves in a great position to take shots and defensively to get the ball down to offense. We have the ability to do the work. It is just better decision-making in the moment, focus, and the ability to leave mistakes in the past.”
The Panthers look to maintain the momentum of this win as they travel to South Bend, Indiana, to face Notre Dame on Feb. 28, and then will return to Highmark Stadium on March 4, to face Virginia.
“I’m glad that we came out with the win,” said Boissonneault. “Definitely not the way we’d like to see the game go, but coming by wins in our conference is hard, and we’re proud of the team for making it happen and being resilient throughout the game.”