Men's soccer claims thrilling 2-1 victory in Los Angeles Friday nightMen's soccer claims thrilling 2-1 victory in Los Angeles Friday night
Men's Soccer

Men's soccer claims thrilling 2-1 victory in Los Angeles Friday night

Junior forward Kristo Strickler was up to his old tricks Friday night in the Virginia Tech men's soccer season opener, scoring another game winning goal, already his seventh, as the program won its fourth straight on opening night, downing Loyola Marymount 2-1. 
 
Strickler, a team captain in 2019, latched onto a pass from Nico Quashie in the box and slotted home his first of the season in the 89thminute to earn the Hokies the victory. Of his 14 career goals, a remarkable seven of them have served as game winners. 
 
He wasn't the only Hokie to make history, as Jakob Bluemler got the scoring started in the first minute, just 58 seconds into the contest when he put away James Kasak's cross that squirted through the goal mouth. It was the fastest tally by a Hokie in a season opener since at least 2004. 
 
The Hokies, who opened the season ranked sixteenth withstood a surge from the homestanding Lions that included eight shots in the second half to secure the result. Tech utilized an experience backline with captain Jon Ingason, Will Mejia and Marc Hoppler in front of 2018 third team All-ACC goalkeeper Mathijs Swaneveld who had six saves. 


 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

  • The Lion had an edge in shots (15-9) and corners (6-2) on the night, but were unable to capitalize on the extra opportunities.
  • Swaneveld secured six saves, including four in the second half to keep the Hokies level with a chance to get a result late in the game.
  • In all 15 Hokies hit the field Friday night, with just five outfield players logging the full 90 minutes.

 
GAME NOTES

  • The Hokies started two freshmen, Daniel Pereira and Nick Blacklock. They were the only underclassmen to feature in the match for Tech. 
  • Transfer forward Jacob Labovitz made his debut Friday, logging 34 minutes.
  • Justus Kauppinen was back in action seeing his first minutes since 2017 after sitting out with a torn ACL in 2018. 
  • Tech improved to 6-5 in season openers under Coach Brizendine after winning their fourth in a row and fifth out of six. The win brings Brizendine's career total to 99 (72 at Virginia Tech) with a chance to hit the century mark later this weekend. 




UP NEXT

The Hokies are back on the pitch on Sunday night, when they take on UC Santa Barbara for the first time in program history at 10 p.m. ET. A free live stream of the game will be available through BigWest TV.