BLACKSBURG – The 2018 Virginia Tech women's soccer season is now complete and the Hokies accomplished a lot over the past five months. It saw the program return to both the ACC and NCAA Championships, get back to the 10-win plateau and the Sweet 16, and finish ranked in two final national polls. Also, a couple Hokies collected a number of individual accolades, one earned her degree and the newest class was announced all while, collectively, posting a program semester GPA of 3.4.
Quickly recapping some of the those major accomplishments (click text to link to more information in those specific releases):
- It was Tech's sixth time making the ACC Championship, but first time since 2013 (link to game preview);
- It was the Hokies' 10th NCAA Championship appearance, but first since 2015 (link to preview);
- In eight seasons under head coach Chugger Adair, Tech has won at least 10 games seven times and has finished over .500 every year;
- It was the Hokies' fifth appearance in the Round of 16 of the NCAA tournament, but first since 2014 (link to preview);
- Tech finished 21st in the United Soccer Coaches poll and 23rd in the TopDrawerSoccer final poll (link to release);
- Goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn was a First Team All-ACC and Second Team All-Atlantic Region selection, defender Kelsey Irwin was a Third Team All-ACC and All-Atlantic Region honoree and midfielder Emily Gray was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team, while she was also invited to train with the U.S. U-20 Women's National Team a couple weeks ago (ACC release, All-Region release, U-20 WNT release);
- Jen Boyles was the first of six senior Hokies to earn her degree, graduating a week ago (link to release); and
- Adair announced his newest signing class about a month ago with seven new additions to the program (link to release).
The student-athletes are now away from campus for a well-earned break, but in just over a month, the squad will return to Blacksburg for the spring semester, and will meet for the first time to begin its preparations for the 2019 season.
Before that, though, let's wrap up the fall semester, which includes reflection from Adair.
Q: Overall, what are your thoughts on the 2018 season?
CA: "I've now had some time to digest it and I'm really pleased with the group as the season went on. They bought in more and more to what we were trying to do as a team and the importance of our mentality in those games. Getting to the Round of 16 was a strong accomplishment for this group and a testament to the them as far as how we are able to battle through and fight through difficult games. Our season was a difficult one. We had ups and downs, we had some really good moments and, at times, some challenging moments to say the least. We had a lot of injuries, but the girls really stepped up and did a good job of buying in. Moving forward, we have to try and figure out how to be more consistent going forward in scoring goals. That was a concern of mine throughout the year. One of the things, though, that everybody kept talking about was how strong and how focused we were in defending. That was something we were just building up as the year went on. We defended much better and we were tougher to break down. Mandy grew throughout the season as well. Her last five games of the year, she was solid. The kids in front of her were gaining confidence with their defending – Kelsey, Alia (Abu El Hawa), Jaylyn (Thompson), Kiersten (Hening) and Jordan (Hemmen) in front – those five in particular were really solid in the defensive aspect of it and were difficult to break down. Having that stability there was key for our success and allowed us to grind out some of those difficult results."
Q: Talking about that defense, you will lose Alia to graduation, how big of a loss is that?
CA: "Yes, we are losing just Alia from that back line, but that's 25 percent of that back line, which is a huge loss. Alia really took a lot of pride in defending, it was one of her most significant traits that a lot of players don't have. She took pride in defending and that was something that she brought to our team to help us grind out results. We'll have to find a replacement and we can look at Olivia (Odle) or Kara (Henderson). They are still coming off their injuries from their freshman year that carried into this past season and we are trying to get them back into it. We are going to have to push those kids throughout the offseason and get them ready for the next level of competition on a consistent basis. So, those two kids right off the bat stand out."
Q: Making the NCAA and then making the run, how important was that for this group, including the experience for your large freshman class, as you move forward?
CA: "For the freshman class, the experience that they gained from the NCAA tournament was huge. However, it wasn't just about getting there and experiencing that atmosphere, but probably half of them were playing significant minutes. Over the season, we probably had five freshman playing significant minutes in very difficult ACC games, an ACC tournament game and in those three NCAA tournament games. So that experience is huge for that group to grow and build off of. Do we need to continue to improve them and grow them as players? For sure, we need to continually grow as a group, but that was a valuable experience for them to get there and well deserved for the overall group."
Q: You had some players miss the entire year to injury and others that missed significant portions of the season. How important will it be to get them back on the field next year?
CA: "To get everybody back and healthy is huge. When we have all the pieces to the puzzle available, we are definitely going to be better as a team. Getting O (Olivia) back and getting Kara back more consistently will be a big advantage. Lilly (Weber), she got hurt in the middle of the ACC season and she is someone that we missed late. She was giving us a spark and providing a lot of work in that midfield that we needed and losing her was difficult. The depth that we had was huge this year, but getting those kids back will be important for us as well as keeping everybody healthy and keeping them growing, developing and maturing for next year's run."
Q: What games do you think were pivotal in your success this season?
CA: "Key games for us, at the top UVA. That was a huge win for us at home. Also, Georgetown made the College Cup semifinals, and we got a nice result with them, a tie in the first weekend of the season. Going on the road we had a few bumps, but then a huge win at Louisville allowed us to really establish ourselves, got us in the ACCs and showed that we were ready to get things rolling. Having the two weeks off after the ACC tournament was good for us as well because it allowed us to work on a number of different things that we needed to improve on. We worked on closing games out and chasing games, things that would help prepare us for game situations as the NCAA tournament presented itself."
Q: You will be losing six seniors to graduation, can you talk about their impact on the program the last four years?
CA: "The seniors have been a huge part of our program for many years now. It's a smaller group, but it's been a very impactful group. Not only on the field, but off the field. I talked about Alia being committed to her defending, taking pride as far as what she's doing as far as defending. Heather (Timothy) was a leader for us. She was able to step in and lead us in a number of situations and is a kid that does everything right. We are never worried about what she's doing. She's always fit. She's always organized. She's got her studies in line. A lot of the senior class did that as well, including Jen and Zoe (Foxhall), so we are going to miss all that they have brought to us. Dino (Kristina Diana) added to our culture and the fun aspect of it and always got people going before the games. Her savviness as a soccer player, we are going to miss that as well. Then, Abby (Dolgos), she's only been with us a little bit, but she had an understanding and really enjoyed being a part of the group. You want people on the team who are going to help the group whether they're playing or not. I think we've had a mix of that with this class and it's been a great group of people."
Q: What are your final thoughts on the 2018 season?
CA: "Overall, I'm very proud of the team. It was a successful year for us. Would I have liked to go a couple more rounds? For sure, but being that we were a bubble team and made it in, I think we put together a good run. We played against a couple of teams that, on paper, were supposed to beat us. It's important for our kids to grow and we really put our minds into winning those games and I was happy with the group for getting those wins. I do want to thank the sports staff, too, for everything they've done for us. One person we'll be missing this year is our trainer Freddy Purnell, who's moving on to the next phase of his life. He's been with us for a long time and has been a great part of our staff. He really does a good job in keeping our kids together and is somebody who's easy to manage in our group. He understands the game and really just supports our staff. He does everything that needs to be done for our student athletes to be successful so we'll miss him as well."