Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – For most of the girls playing in the Norway vs. Finland U23 friendly it was just your average summer soccer match. However, for two Hokies, Victoria Haugen of Norway and Aino Vuorinen of Finland, it was a game they will never forget.
"I was surprised to see Victoria in my hometown," said Aino Vuorinen, Virginia Tech women's soccer. "Seeing someone from Blacksburg on the other side of the world was odd."
Vuorinen hails from Helsinki, Finland, the location of their friendly match. There she grew into a young star on the soccer pitches of the land of a thousand lakes.
"I've been playing soccer in Finland since I was five," said Vuorinen. "Playing in the same club since then with the same players and coaches around me."
Vuorinen rapidly ascended in the Finnish women's soccer ranks over the years. She played for the club team FC Honka for 15 years before moving on to the national team. In 2018, she was the club's top goal scorer on a team that won the Finnish youth league title.
From then on, she was a steady force with the country's best female youth soccer players. Vuorinen developed her play further, starring on Finland's U17, U18, U19, and U23 teams. While on the U17 team she helped them qualify for the 2018 World Cup. She then moved up to U19 where she became a team captain and scored a team-high 17 goals in 24 starts.
"All the tough experience and competition against international teams made me feel like my soccer was more mature when I came here," Vuorinen said.
Indeed, Vuorinen was right at home in Helsinki for the friendly match that saw Finland defeat Norway 1-0. On the other hand, Haugen had a different experience that was made all the more comforting by having a good friend from Blacksburg by her side.
"It was weird at first," said Victoria Haugen, Virginia Tech women's soccer. "I'm used to seeing her in Blacksburg and in a Virginia Tech environment but seeing her there made us closer."
Haugen has had her fair share of experiences on the international scene for the Norwegian national team. In 2019, Haugen was a contributor to the Norwegian U19 team that placed first in Group Five of the qualifying round at UEFA Euros. Haugen also was named Player of the Match seven times during her days playing for Norway's various youth national teams.
Then in the middle of her collegiate career, Haugen was honored with a call-up to Norway's U23 squad. Last October, she briefly left Tech to play in a couple of friendly matches overseas. Her call-up to the Norwegian U23 team set the stage for Haugen and Vuorinen to face off against each other in Finland after a year of sharing the stage as Hokie teammates.
"My hotel was 25 minutes away from her home," said Haugen. "The night I got into Helsinki we went out to get ice cream and she took me downtown."
Having a friend from Blacksburg to guide her through a faraway city was very special to Haugen, but it was also a time Vuorinen will always remember as well.
"Dori (Haugen's nickname) was the first teammate from here that my mom and dad had ever met," said Vuorinen. "Since Dori's parents were also in Helsinki, our parents met each other and it was a very special moment."
Nils and Micki (Victoria's parents) meeting Jussi and Anne (Aino's parents) made the entire experience remarkably personal and strengthened the bond between Haugen and Vuorinen. Both ladies' have rich backgrounds on the international soccer scene and share many other common threads. One is the adjustment of transitioning from facing international opponents on their respective national teams to playing college women's soccer in America and vice versa.
"It greatly improves my game when I am over there," said Haugen. "I'm always learning something new every day and when I come back I'm able to implement new skills and ideas to help the team win."
Haugen did have plenty of run with American soccer prior to coming to Tech and throughout her years on the Norwegian youth national teams. Haugen was a team captain of the FC Virginia club and was a XI East Conference pick as a defender in 2019.
Unlike Haugen, Vuorinen spent all of her formative years in the country she grew up in before transitioning to college women's soccer at Virginia Tech. Her time in Finland alone gave her a wealth of skills to succeed in America, but it was not an easy transition in the beginning.
"In Europe, the game is more possession-based as opposed to here in America where it is more direct and the speed of play is different," said Vuorinen. "Back home I would get three touches over a long period of time but here I could get three touches quickly."
Haugen agrees that the difference in style of play overseas makes it a challenging but rewarding process. Both girls learned to adapt on the fly and expand their games naturally.
"The coaches encourage you to knock the ball around and play more direct," said Haugen. "Playing more possession style soccer is what they do internationally."
All of Haugen and Vuorinen's experiences in Europe have done wonders for their time as soccer players for the Hokies. Vuorinen and Haugen both rank within the top three on the team in minutes played this season. Vuorinen leads the pack at 1,317 minutes played with two points off a pair of assists to go with it. Haugen is not far behind with 1,278 minutes played ranking her third on the team.
"Applying everything that I have learn builds more confidence in my play," said Haugen. "It also helps me lead the team when necessary."
There certainly has been some overlap in the journeys of Victoria Haugen and Aino Vuorinen. From young ages, the women were thrusted onto the international scene. Their stellar play led them to become teammates at Virginia Tech. By pure luck they shared in that international experience together and competed head to head.
"Having her know where I come from and what my culture is like makes our bond unique," said Vuorinen. "We both know what it takes to compete over there and our friendship is a special one."
The friendly game between Vuorinen and Haugen was low stakes in the bigger picture for Finland and Norway U23 girl's teams. If you dive into the weeds of both girls' stories, you will find that this match meant the world to two young women who are both making their marks overseas and in the Virginia Tech women's soccer program.
Victoria Haugen playing defense against Old Dominion (3-0, win)