Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – It's certainly a tale of two matches for the Hokies as Thursday night against Miami, the Virginia Tech women's soccer team attempted 17 shots of which eight found the back of the net in a runway victory. On Sunday afternoon at Thompson Field against another ranked opponent, Tech took a season-high 18 shots, but No. 13 Louisville would not surrender a goal as the Cardinals came away with the ACC win by a 1-0 count.
Just three minutes in to action, Emily Gray, who had a team-high six shots of which four were on goal, forced Louisville goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos to make her first save of the afternoon. She also protected her goal area as she raced down a through ball from Gray to Karlie Johnson that was just step too far. Gray also had another shot in the 19th minute that was blocked out for one of Tech's nine corners on the day.
Louisville (4-2-0, 4-2-0 ACC) attempted just five shots in the game, its first in the 29th minute a header that went wide, and had three corners, but two of them after a Tech miscue in the 32nd minute turned out to be the difference in the game. On the second, Tech goalkeeper Alia Skinner punched away the cross, but it landed right at the feet of Cardinal Morgan Bentley, whose shot from 17 yards out would hold as the eventual game winner.
Tech (2-7-0, 2-4-0 ACC) came out of the locker room with urgency, as Tori Powell had a shot on goal just 12 seconds after the break and Gray took another two in the 49th and 53rd minutes. Skinner would make three saves in the second half to keep the deficit at one and Powell had one last chance for Tech in the 89th minute.
Johnson had the ball out wide and her cross found Powell whose first touch in the box ricocheted off the Louisville defender back to her. Her second shot was saved by a diving Kouzelous, her eighth of the day, which preserved the shutout win for her team.
Additional Notes
- McCarter has started 48 straight matches for the Hokies, the longest active streak on the team.
- Skinner now has 57 saves this season, the most for any goalkeeper nine matches into the season. Over the last eight seasons, the high-water mark for saves was by Dayle Colpitts, who stopped 78 shots in 27 matches.
- Skinner entered the game as the nation's leader in saves per game at 8.60.
- The 18 shots are the most since attempting 20 last year versus Boston College (Oct. 24, 2019), while the nine corners are the most since versus Xavier a year ago (Nov. 15, 2019).
Coach's Comments
Postmatch comments from @CoachChugger. pic.twitter.com/FkcbelmGWF
— Virginia Tech Women's Soccer (@HokiesWSoccer) October 18, 2020
Up Next
The Hokies will take the week off from competition before playing their final home match of the season on Saturday against Navy with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m.
Gallery: (10-18-2020) 2020 WOMEN'S SOCCER vs LOUISVILLE