Hokie ClubIn mid-July, Chugger Adair oversaw the often arduous and sometimes unpleasant process of moving a family from one house to another.
Now, with soccer season ready to commence, the Tech women's soccer head coach hopes to oversee another major move – guiding the Hokies back into NCAA postseason neighborhood.
Last fall, Tech missed on an NCAA bid for a second straight year despite having a winning record and a marquee win. The Hokies went 7-6-5 last fall, including a nice win over perennial power Notre Dame, but the selection committee held them out, presumably because of an RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) in the 50s. Two years ago, the Hokies won 11 games and sported an RPI in the 30s, but the NCAA selection committee supposedly felt that Tech lacked a marquee win and left the Hokies out.
This season, the Hokies have a simpler goal – take any doubts away from the selection committee by just winning and doing so with regularity.
"We have 18 games to prove ourselves," said Adair, entering his eighth season as the head coach at Tech. "We have to make sure we do it and prove to the NCAA selection committee that we deserve the opportunity. That's what we need to do – build our resume and do enough to establish ourselves."
For the Hokies, a return to postseason play probably hinges first on getting healthy and staying healthy. Last fall, two of their top freshmen [defender Olivia Odle and midfielder Kara Henderson] missed the season with injuries. Also, defender Jess Boytim missed time, and forward Bridget Patch was in and out of the lineup.
The injuries forced Adair to shuffle players around, which in turn, affected continuity on the pitch. That primarily showed on offense, as the Hokies scored just 16 goals in 18 games. Alani Johnson, one of five seniors on last year's squad, paced the Hokies with only four goals.
So unlike in 2017, Tech needs to capitalize on its chances on offense. The Hokies had opportunities – they took 242 shots for the season, including 108 on goal – but they often failed to put the ball in the back of the net. As a result, they were shut out on five occasions and played in three scoreless ties.
"We didn't finish the ones we had," Adair said. "In conference play, in some of those ties, we probably had a one-on-one, even in some of the losses, that we didn't take in some of those games. You look at Clemson, and we ended up losing 3-0, all on second-half goals, but we miss a one-on-one midway through the first half. On the road, that could have been a real difference maker in the game.
"In the ACC, there isn't a lot of room for error. You've got to take those chances. Syracuse and Pitt are two games that we dominated in the shot aspect [32 against Syracuse; 23 against Pitt] and didn't take the game. We missed a penalty kick in the Pitt game, and we missed one in the Pepperdine game. Those are ties that we wished we had back. You look at BC and Wake [both 0-0 ties], really good games for us, and both teams in each game could have won the game. The room for error was really marginal. We just didn't take our chances."
The good news for the Hokies is that six of last year's goal scorers return, led by sophomore Allyson Brown, who scored three goals, and junior Jordan Hemmen, who added two. Adair expects the Hokies to be more prolific and steadier in the midfield thanks to the return of Hemmen and others like Heather Timothy, Lilly Weber and Kristina Diana, and hopefully that equates to more production.
Also a plus for the Hokies, many of the top defenders return on what was a rather stout Tech defense in 2017. Tech allowed just 20 goals – two off the school record for the fewest goals allowed in a season.
Senior Alia Abu El Hawa and redshirt junior Kelsey Irwin anchor this year's group, along with junior Jaylyn Thompson. Getting Odle and Henderson back at full speed only adds to a solid back line.
They'll be playing in front of one of the ACC's best goalkeepers in Mandy McGlynn. The junior, who has started 34 games in her career, recorded seven shutouts in 2017.
"She's not only a great goaltender, but a great person and a great leader on our team," Adair said. "We missed that a little in the spring [while McGlynn practiced with the U.S. U-20 National Team], and we hope she can come in and establish that with our group there. But her quality of goalkeeping is very good, and her presence is good as well."
McGlynn could miss the first four games of the season pending the outcome of the U.S. U-20 team and its performances at the U-20 Women's World Cup squad being held in France on Aug. 5-24. The situation concerns Adair, who headed into fall practice with three other players vying for the backup job at goalkeeper. One of those three needs to emerge.
Tech enters the season with a lot of optimism and for good reason. The Hokies have a combined 15 juniors and seniors on the roster, a strong defense and quality goalkeeping once McGlynn returns. They possess some potential at the forward spots – both returners and incoming freshmen who show an ability to score goals.
"For us, it'll be about limiting goal-scoring chances, winning our non-conference games, and taking our chances that we create [on offense]," Adair said. "We need to bond as a group in the belief that we can win games and continue to grow, and then as we get into conference, have that edge in conference games. Have that edge that we can win games."
This program has a lot of pieces. Everything is packed up and ready. On Aug. 17, the program's big move begins.
OF NOTE: The Hokies will open competition with a home scrimmage against George Mason Tuesday night at Thompson Field beginning at 6 p.m. before heading to Lynchburg for another scrimmage at Liberty, which also kicks off at 6 p.m. To view the team's 2018 full schedule, click here.