Men’s Soccer: Virginia Tech 2, Presbyterian 1
Two center backs scored crucial goals for Virginia Tech in its 2-1 win over Presbyterian on Thursday at Thompson Field.
“I’m pleased that we won, but I thought we were pretty poor in most phases of the game,” Hokies coach Mike Brizendine said afterwards. “I thought we started slow, I thought they were on top of us. We made some subs, and I thought towards the later part of the first half, we put in a pretty dominant performance, but we didn’t finish.
“… I’m happy that we won, I really am — we’ve almost matched last year’s [win] total — but I think this group can do some pretty high-level things, from what I can tell, and these kind of things feel like stumbling blocks to me.”
Davidson transfer Trey Gardiner struck first in the 38th minute off a corner from Carter Hensley. It found the head of fellow center back Floki Stephensen, who tapped it across to Gardiner, who flicked it over the keeper and into the net. It was the fourth collegiate goal for the veteran and his first in maroon and orange.
Our CB opens up his account for the Hokies 👏 pic.twitter.com/7bdMqlRWQF
— Virginia Tech Men’s Soccer (@HokiesMSoccer) September 5, 2024
The corner game across, it was a good ball in, aimed to the back post and Floki was able to put it back across the box, which was what we’ve worked on in training,” Gardiner said. “It was just kind of sitting there. I was able to jump up over the guy and put my head through it, opposite corner. It was a great feeling.”
After Blue Hose (1-2-1) forward Damorney Hutchinson equalized in the 71st minute, sprinting past the two central defenders and scoring on a counter-attack — the first goal Tech’s allowed at home this year — Stephensen responded for the Hokies (3-0-1).
Alex Perez served up a beautiful corner, but Malick Thiaw’s opportunity ricocheted off the crossbar. However, the ball fell to Stephensen, who smashed home the game-winner with nine minutes remaining.
A goal and an assist for our freshman Floki 🎯 pic.twitter.com/HyD7KukOdi
— Virginia Tech Men’s Soccer (@HokiesMSoccer) September 5, 2024
It’s the second straight game Tech responded well. After going down 2-0 early to Kentucky on Monday, it leveled things out, courtesy of an Ethan Hackenberg penalty and a brilliant last-minute curler from freshman Ian Marcano.
Thursday was similar. Tech was the better team for 90 minutes, peppering Presbyterian with 22 shots and seven corners but struggling to find a breakthrough. It eventually came, though, another glimpse at the group’s toughness.
“It just shows our resilience,” Gardiner said. “Going down at Kentucky, we all knew there was plenty of game still to play. We got one before half and then were able to get that comeback, get that tie on the road, which was huge. That shows that grit in our team.
“And then this game, them tying it up at one, we knew that’s not a good result for us at home and we’ve got to win games at home. Floki was able to get a scrappy goal on a corner, and we talked about it, set pieces win games sometimes. … Just good resilience in the guys to keep pushing, keep working and get results.”
The Hokies have a quick turnaround: they’ll play their third game in seven days on Sunday at Furman (2-1-1) before opening ACC play next Friday at Syracuse.
“We have to go down there and we have to play better,” Brizendine said.
Hokies’ XI: Wenzel; Uwimana, Stephensen, Gardiner, Cardona; Hensley, Yohannes, Marcano; Thiaw, Sullins, Hackenberg
Women’s Soccer: Liberty 2, No. 21 Virginia Tech 1
The No. 21 Hokies (5-1-1) dropped their first game of the season against the Flames (7-0-0) in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader in Blacksburg.
“Disappointing result tonight,” Virginia Tech coach Chugger Adair said. “[Liberty] was strong, aggressive. We knew they were going to be defensive-minded through the front line and press like they did. They were physical and aggressive, and we dealt with it at times very well, and there were a couple moments we didn’t. I think we struggled to play through that in a consistent manner tonight.
“… We’ve got to come out and be a little more assertive if we want to talk the talk. … And they were a little more physical than we were, and a lot more aggressive, and we’ve got to be able to match that.”
Liberty got on the board first in the 31st minute via Halle Engle, who tapped home a corner. It was a solid service — one of the Flames’ _ corner kicks — and was the first goal Virginia Tech allowed at home in 2024.
However, veteran forward Sophie Maltese tied the game two minutes later. She flicked home a cross from Ava Arengo that caught Liberty keeper Peyton Huber by surprise. She got a hand on the shot but couldn’t keep it out.
we're tied at thompson 💪
📺 – https://t.co/DwoIiIMDuR#Hokies⚽️ pic.twitter.com/W3q2qdht8T
— Virginia Tech Women's Soccer (@HokiesWSoccer) September 6, 2024
“It was a good team goal,” Adair said. “Arengo played a very good ball in from the corner, and it was a good finish. I’d like to see us do more of that consistently as a group.”
In the end, Engle was the difference. She notched her second goal six minutes into the second half after the Flames won possession in the midfield and countered quickly. Ivy Gardner slipped her through, and her right-footed strike rolled past the outstretched legs of Hokies keeper Lauren Hargrove.
Tech had a few opportunities down the stretch but couldn’t convert. The group felt slightly disconnected, in part because Liberty controlled the midfield from start to finish.
The Hokies have a quick turnaround as they travel to Northwestern (4-2) on Sunday for a 2 p.m. ET kick. After that, it’s right into conference play at Clemson (Thursday) and vs. Syracuse (Sunday).
“We’ve got to get ourselves ready to go to Northwestern and get a result,” Adair said.
Hokies’ Starting XI: Hargrove; DeHaan, Marschall, Nelson, George; Pelkowski, Mitchell, Vuorinen; Price, Rosenbaum, DeGuzman
Print
Comments are closed.