Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – A week ago, the Virginia Tech women's soccer team ended its fall campaign with a 1-0 loss to then, top-ranked North Carolina in a quarterfinal matchup at the 2020 ACC Championship at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina marking the Hokies' eighth appearance all-time in the tournament.
The contest was the 13th for the Hokies during the fall season, tied for the second-most in the league with Duke, while Pitt led the ACC with 14. Tech was one of 57 women's soccer teams to compete this fall with a handful of Sun Belt schools topping out at 15 games.
When looking at the 2020 fall slate, Tech tied Wake Forest for the most matches against ACC tournament teams with seven and its nine overall matches against nationally-ranked opponents were the most among any ACC program – two more than the second-most (Duke and Virginia, seven). In fact, the eight games against ranked foes during the regular season was the most for the team since 2010 and is one fewer than the most ever in school history of nine set in 2008.
The Hokies finished one of the nation's toughest schedules while welcoming in 10 new freshmen to the squad – tied for the most among all ACC schools with Miami. The 13 overall first-year players (freshmen and redshirts) are the most among any ACC program.
Looking back on the fall season, Tech head coach Chugger Adair answered a few questions regarding how his team responded under all these circumstances. Of note: this is the first of two fall catch-ups with Coach Adair, as Thursday, he'll talk about some individuals and then briefly discuss Tech's newest signing class ahead of their introductions to Hokie Nation. The class will be featured weekly in our "Welcome Wednesday" series starting next week (Nov. 25).
Q: First can you address the overall fall season, being able to get to play 13 matches?
CA: "The season was a unique one, with everything going on in the world. It was definitely unique for our student-athletes, who have been through a lot with the uncertainty with what's going on in the world. It was very challenging, but I am very proud of our student-athletes with how they've grown, how they've developed and how they dealt with the situation throughout the year. They bought in to being student-athletes, being a part of the program and trying to do all that they could as we grew and developed. Having a very young team has been even more challenging as we try to grow and rebuild our program this year. Having 10 freshmen has been great for the group, but also challenging as we go through the whole Covid year. I'm pleased and want to thank the ACC for getting our season in and doing all they can for our student-athletes. The athletic directors and all the administrators who put their time into helping us with the season and allowing our student-athletes to play has been important. I think we definitely enjoyed that aspect of it and has helped us for this fall. I'm proud of the team and thankful that we we've been able to get it in as we have."
Q: What are your thoughts on the fall season from a performance perspective?
CA: "Looking at the soccer side of things, we were thrown right into the mix with a young group, playing one of the most difficult schedules in the country. I'm very pleased with how we responded. Yes, I would I have liked to have a few more wins in those games and maybe had a little bit more success, but I think, we fought hard, we grew and we developed. From the start of the season to now, we've really grown and I'm proud of the group for their buy-in and their trust in our staff and the effort that we put into the season. I think that showed as we put a run together and we gained experience. Making it into the ACC tournament with the schedule that we had was very challenging, and I think our team has done a very good job with that. Im proud of the staff and proud of the student-athletes and overall pleased with that."
Q: How impressed were you with the way the team responding at the end of the season?
CA: "It was hard at some points, being 0-5, it was hard to keep them confident. Going into a couple of the matches at the end, we really needed to push them, build them and grow them and explain to them what we've been through and what lies ahead if we could get some results. For us, getting the result against Pitt at home was important for us, after having a poor first half. I think the second half against Pitt, we came out and were much better and, in the end, deserved that result which was good for us. That helped us gain some confidence and then we were able to build from there, move forward and pushed to the end. And you saw that in that last weekend, playing at Wake Forest and playing at Boston College. Those were two road games that we had to win in order to get into the tournament and I was really pleased with the group and how they responded late in the year with all that we had gone through during the season. It's a difficult situation we were in, but the team really responded well and trusted what we were trying to do as a group."
Q: Do you any more thoughts on the ACC tournament match and what's next for Tech?
CA: "I would have liked to have gotten a result in the ACC tournament and have some success there, but it wasn't in the cards and I think we defended really well, and just didn't play the best game going forward. Carolina is a good side and put us under pressure and made it difficult for us to play in those moments and hats off to them in that ACC match. But, overall, the fall season, we've grown and we've gotten better and we're looking forward to putting in some work in this offseason, sort of a regrouping here at the middle of this year. Then, we'll come back ready for a spring season where we can add to our resume, build our group in the spring and hopefully put ourselves in a position to make the NCAA tournament if we have it in the spring. Again, I'm really proud of the group, excited and looking forward to moving in the right direction in the spring."
Be sure to check back on Thursday for the second catch-up with Coach Adair.