BLACKSBURG – In a match-up between a pair of programs fighting for their postseason lives, Virginia Tech scored two early goals and then held on for a 2-1 victory over visiting Notre Dame in a critical ACC women's soccer match at Thompson Field Thursday night.
Both clubs came into the evening tied for the eighth and the final playoff spot in the ACC standings with nine points – eight teams make the ACC Championship tournament. Tech's victory coupled with a Clemson loss at Wake Forest now has the Tigers and Hokies deadlocked for the seventh spot with only two matches remaining. Tech will face Clemson on Sunday.
The Hokies (8-5-3, 4-4-0 ACC) scored their earliest goal of the season to take a quick lead in the contest. Emily Gray took a free kick from about 35 yards out and, just inside the box, Kelsey Irwin deflected a header past Irish goalkeeper Brooke Littman for the tally.
Just over five minutes later, Karlie Johnson chased down a misplayed ball by Notre Dame in their defensive end – just before Littman got to it – and Johnson had an open goal to pad the Hokies' advantage.
The rest of the night, Notre Dame (7-9-0, 3-5-0 ACC) pressured the Tech defense and goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn as much as they could. The Irish registered 19 shots in the contest, including 10 on goal. With less than 14 minutes remaining, a deflected shot by Sammi Fisher found the foot of Karin Muya, who scored her seventh goal of the season.
However, the Hokies held on for the win as McGlynn stopped a season-high nine shots, two shy of her career high, to record her eighth win of the season.
FROM COACH ADAIR
Hear from @CoachChugger following tonight's win over Notre Dame. pic.twitter.com/VUhaBGRMvo
— Virginia Tech Women's Soccer (@HokiesWSoccer) October 19, 2018
OF NOTE
- This was the ninth all-time meeting between the two programs. Tech now leads 4-3-1.
- The Hokies improved to 6-1-2 at Thompson Field in 2018, 8-0-1 when they score a goal and are 8-0-0 when they score first in a match.
- Irwin scored her third goal of the season and the fifth of her career. She now has a team-high tying 14 career points.
- Gray registered her team-leading fourth assist of the season.
- For Johnson, it was her team-leading sixth goal of the year, team-leading 12th point and her team-leading third game-winning goal.
- Allyson Brown had the previous fastest goal this year – at Miami (9/23), scoring at 8:23. It's the quickest goal to start a match versus an ACC opponent since Katie Yenson scored on a penalty kick 50 seconds into a match versus Duke on Sept. 28, 2014.
- Jaylyn Thompson started her 44th straight match for Tech, the longest consecutive streak on the team, while McGlynn has the second longest at 35.
- Two Hokies have played all 1,500 minutes of the season: McGlynn and Kelsey Irwin.
- Five Hokies have started all 16 matches this year: the two above, Emily Gray, Jordan Hemmen and Thompson.
UP NEXT
Tech will conclude its regular-season home slate with Clemson on Sunday with a 1 p.m. kickoff, which will also be Senior Day for six Hokies - Zoe Foxhall, Jen Boyles, Heather Timothy, Kristina Diana, Alia Abu El Hawa and Abby Dolgos.