BLACKSBURG – For the first time in six matches this season, No. 23 Virginia Tech faced a deficit as Yale took a first-half lead on the Hokies. However, they outshot the Bulldogs 8-0 in the second half and Nicole Kozlova scored twice to lift the Hokies to a 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Field.
The win improved the Hokies overall record to 6-0, just the fifth time in program history the team has won their first six to start the year and the first time since 2014. The other years were 2012, 2011 and 1994. The loss dropped Yale to 2-2.
A comeback win has also been rare in a Tech match recently, as this marked the first time the Hokies erased a deficit since Oct. 15, 2017 at Notre Dame, winning 2-1 after trailing 1-0 at the half. In the last 30 matches since then, the team that had scored the first goal was 26-0-1 (with three double overtime ties).
Tech outshot Yale by a 16-3 count over the entire match, but the Bulldogs capitalized on the Hokies' inability to clear the ball out of the box in the 32nd minute. It pinballed back-and-forth for a bit before Aerial Chavarin headed it past Tech goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn. That would be the last shot Yale had in the match.
The Hokies had a number of quality chances in the first half, but Bulldog goalkeeper Alyssa Fagel came up with three saves in the opening stanza. She made another one on a Kozlova attempt from close range in the 57th minute.
However, Tech finally got on the board in the 65th minute when Emily Gray played a through ball into Kozlova, who took a couple of touches and then beat a diving Fagal to the far post. For Gray, it was her second assist of the season, eighth of her career.
Kozlova wasn't done as she netted the game winner with under seven minutes left in the contest. Emmalee McCarter started the play with pass down the right side to Molly Feighan, who took a couple touches before crossing the ball.
Kozlova finished it off for her second of the day, her team-leading fourth of the year. It was McCarter's team-leading fourth assist of the season, as she and Kozlova are now tied with the team-lead in points (8), while it was Feighan's third assist.
With the two goals, Kozlova became the first Hokie with a multiple-goal game since Kelsey Irwin had a brace at Villanova on Sept. 7 of last year (a 3-0 victory). She is also the first Tech player with back-to-back game-winning goals since Alani Johnson (Aug. 26 & 28, 2016).
McGlynn, who made one save in the contest, picked up her 35th victory as a Hokie and improved her record to 35-0-2 when the team gives her a lead at any point in a match.
Quick Notes:
- This was the first meeting all-time against Yale, and the first ever for Tech against an Ivy League school.
- The match marked just the third time a team from the state of Connecticut played in Blacksburg, as the Huskies and Hokies battled twice here in the early 2000s as members of the Big East. UConn won both of those, 2-0 in 2001 and 5-3 in 2003.
- Under head coach Chugger Adair, Tech is 63-4-6 all-time in non-conference regular-season matches.
- The Hokies are 3-2-2 on this date, September 8.
- Jaylyn Thompson has now started 56 straight matches, McGlynn 47 straight and Jordan Hemmen 44. Former Tech player Candace Cephers is the last player to start more than 55 straight (2013-15) when she started 60 in a row.
- McGlynn has played 4,046:43 straight minutes since the last time she was substituted (Aug. 25, 2017 – 43 straight matches).
- Tech has eight players who have scored a goal already this season (14 goals total – starters eight, reserves six), while nine players have tallied at least one assist.
From Coach Adair:
Postgame with @CoachChugger pic.twitter.com/5ABAcGixnY
— Virginia Tech Women's Soccer (@HokiesWSoccer) September 8, 2019
Up Next:
The Hokies take a little break before heading back out on the road for the Battle by the Beach in Wilmington, N.C. Tech will play the College of Charleston on Friday and the host UNCW Seahawks on Sunday.
Gallery: (9/8/2019) 2019 WOMEN'S SOCCER vs. YALE