By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech women's soccer roster consists of 16 freshmen and sophomores, and thanks to a COVID-created schedule, this group won't be able to ease into the 2020 campaign.
The Hokies' fall slate features eight ACC matches, four against teams that made the NCAA Championship last year, and four non-conference matches. Two of the nonconference matches are against in-state rival Virginia — a byproduct of most conferences canceling fall competition because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tech's first five matches are at Virginia, at Clemson and at North Carolina, then home versus Virginia and Florida State. All four teams made the NCAA Championships in 2019.
"It's going to be very challenging, just not being able to play games to build into that [type of schedule]," Tech women's soccer coach Chugger Adair admitted. "We're going to be learning in high-level games. That's something we've got to push with them [his players] in training and make them see that in training. We'll do our best with intrasquad sessions, but when we're in those intrasquads, it's not the same. We can't replicate some of those ACC games.
"It's challenging, but we're going to do our best to learn on the fly and coach the kids up, and hopefully the kids will be willing to learn as they go and make good decisions in those situations."
Adair still plans on reloading – not rebuilding – after his team finished the 2019 season with a strong 12-5-2 record. The Hokies beat three SEC teams in nonconference play and then won three of their final four matches to end the regular season with a conference record of 4-4-2. That earned them a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships and a home game against Xavier.
Unfortunately, Tech's season ended with a 1-0 loss to the Musketeers, who had won the BIG EAST title. That defeat still bothers Adair, even 10 months later.
"I thought we played well during the season … but I was disappointed with the result and the way the game flowed against Xavier," he said. "Credit to Xavier. They did a good job and played well and got us at the start [Xavier scored in the second minute] – and we were chasing the game.
"You could probably attribute it to a lot of things. They were hot at the end of the year after going on a run to win the BIG EAST, and we were also coming off a break and didn't come out of the chute very well. I think we had 16 days off between games, so we were a little bit slow. I'm just frustrated with how that game went overall."
Reloading for another season calls for replacing seven seniors from last year's squad, including two who rank as among the best ever at Tech to play at their respective positions.
Mandy McGlynn, a goalkeeper, earned All-America honors last season and was a third-round selection of Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League Draft. McGlynn started every game of her career and finished as the school's all-time leader in shutouts with 32, while Kelsey Irwin, a defender, started 68 of the 70 games that she played in her career.
"We're definitely working on emerging new leaders and putting people into new spots," Adair said. "We have an idea who could step into those roles. We're trying to move some people around and see how things are going to go. We've talked about the culture with the kids, and that's what we miss with Mandy and Kelsey, as far as their experience and their leadership in addition to their on-field ability. So we're trying to grow leaders and people who can fill those positions on the field, too."
Tech's roster features four goalkeepers – redshirt junior Alice Hamel, redshirt sophomore S.A. Phillips, redshirt freshman Dare Burnett, and freshman Alia Skinner – but none of whom have played in a collegiate game.
"We're working through training camp to see how they mesh and who basically comes out on top as far as the starter, or if we'll play multiple goalkeepers," Adair said. "But I imagine we'll try to have a starter go from the start and see how that goes."
A trio of players is involved in the battle to replace Irwin as a center back. Kara Henderson, a redshirt junior, possesses the most experience, having started eight matches last season and playing in 11, but she has played more in the midfield during her career at Tech and battled injuries throughout the past two seasons. Two freshmen, Victoria Haugen and Averi Visage, bring impressive skills to Tech – Haugen has played with the Norwegian National Team.
Tech, though, lacks an experienced group of defenders. Kiersten Hening started 18 matches last season, but outside of her, no one else played more than five matches, and the group includes four true freshmen.
"That's something we're still working on, I'll be honest with you," Adair said. "We've got a lot of kids that can play. It's just getting them playing minutes at the college level, and that's something that is going to be important for us. Them gaining experience and them stepping up and making an impact right off the bat. They need to be committed and understanding the defensive roles and the impact that they can have on the games."
On offense, the Hokies are in much better shape, as their four top goal scorers return, and seven goal scorers return overall.
Nicole Kozlova leads the Tech attack. The redshirt sophomore from Toronto finished with a team-best five goals and 12 points in 2019, and she also brings some international experience, having participated with the Ukrainian National Team for the past three years.
"I think Nicole is one of our most sophisticated finishers," Adair said. "I think she loves going to the goal, and she's passionate and excited about scoring. She's one of the kids we can look at and hope to generate offense moving forward."
Emily Gray, Emmalee McCarter and Molly Feighan bring added punch as well. Gray scored four goals last season, while McCarter and Feighan each scored three goals and had four assists. Adair also expects a bounce-back season from junior Karlie Johnson, who scored six goals as a freshman, but failed to strike in 2019.
In addition, he expects a couple of freshmen to make a big impact. Tori Powell, from Haymarket, Virginia, and Taylor Bryan, a Brooklyn, New Yorker, are two athletic forwards with the ability to be dangerous.
"I think we have the potential to be very offensive-minded," Adair said. "We want to have a wide range of kids who can score multiple goals. It'd be nice to have a 20-goal scorer, but if we had a 20-goal scorer and nobody else picking up significant goals, then it becomes problematic. So we want to be balanced, and I think we've got that. Having that balance could make us very dangerous moving forward. Not everybody is a 10 every night, and we need others picking up the slack."
The Hokies certainly have the look of an intriguing team despite the personnel losses from a season ago. They possess a lot of talent at a lot of positions, and they figure to be a higher-scoring team than the ones of the past couple of years. But they lack experience and missed an opportunity to gain that when the pandemic ended their spring exhibition season after just two matches.
"Culture is always something that is a concern of mine," Adair said. "We've got to continue to blend 10 new personalities with our freshmen. We're a little bit younger this year. As we see in training, having consistency in their performance and their commitment to playing at a high level keeps us up at night.
"We're working on them having open attitudes and learning – learning the system and learning the expectations of high-quality Division I soccer. They're having to train every day, and we're pushing them every day. It's different than club soccer. So we're trying to get those kids to understand the standards and the expectations that we hold."
The NCAA recently postponed its fall sports championships until the spring (if possible), but the ACC still plans a fall postseason tournament in Cary, North Carolina and it will feature the top eight teams in the final league standings. The ACC recently announced its 2020 Preseason Coaches' Poll, where Tech placed eighth. The conference also is looking at the potential of a spring season as well. Tech will continue to prepare despite the uncertainty.
After all, the standards in Blacksburg are high. The Hokies know how to win. They've won at least 10 matches in eight of Adair's nine seasons as the head coach.
Yes, the past six months have been challenging, but this program knows how to face challenges and find success. Adair and his staff are hoping that trend continues.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- 10 – The Hokies' 2020 roster features 10 true freshmen.
- 9 – In his nine seasons as the Hokies' head coach, Chugger Adair and his team have won at least seven matches every year
- 8 – Tech played in eight one-goal matches in 2019, going 6-2 in those matches.
- 7 – The Hokies have made seven NCAA Championships appearances in Adair's tenure as the head coach.
- 6 – Six returning players scored goals for the Hokies last fall.
- 5 – Nicole Kozlova's five goals paced the Hokies last season.
- 4 – Four returning players finished with at least 10 points in 2019.
- 3 – Emily Gray's three game-winning goals led the Hokies last season.
- 2 – Molly Feighan and Emily Gray are the only returning players to score at least two goals in ACC matches last season.
- 1 – Departed goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn was No. 1 in the ACC with 10 shutouts in 2019.