"Cardiac Hokies" pull off another overtime thriller on 50th anniversary

Ishan Lamba

Staff Writer

September 24, 2021

BLACKSBURG — Within the first few seconds of overtime, a week after taking down rival Virginia on a golden goal, it appeared that No. 12 Virginia Tech wouldn’t be able to replicate the same result in front of a packed house at Thompson Field.

Notre Dame’s Jack Lynn capitalized on two miscues from junior midfielder Mayola Kinyua and defender Sivert Haugli, leaving him one-on-one with Hokies' keeper Ben Martino.

Lynn chipped it over and it took the heroics of a jumping Welnilton da Silva Jr. to clear the ball to safety, and for the moment, preserve the tie.

And then, just a few minutes later, the Hokies walked it off once more.

In the waning moments of the first overtime period, midfielder Landon Ameres dumped the ball off to freshman midfielder Danny Flores, who would proceed to wiggle through four Notre Dame defenders and put the icing on the cake, sending it through the legs of Irish keeper Bryan Dowd to earn a crucial three points for the Hokies.

Flores was over the moon, sprinting towards the partying crowd and flashing floodlights before laying on the pitch in celebration, where he was mobbed by his teammates.

“It was the first time I’ve ever experienced scoring a goal in Thompson Field so I felt amazing,” a smiling Flores told 3304 Sports after the game. “I think overall, as a team, we just played with our heart, we played really well and we deserve the three points as a team.”

The Hokies (5-1-2, 2-1 ACC) capped off another eventful week with their third consecutive victory. It was a week that began with a double overtime victory over rival Virginia, followed by a come-from-behind win over William & Mary, and was concluded with a 2-1 overtime win over Notre Dame (3-4-1, 1-1-1 ACC).

But before the second dogpile of the week commenced, on a chilly evening that only got colder as the match went on, Virginia Tech honored its varsity soccer alumni across the past 50 years.

“It’s great to be back and see all the facilities and the rise of the program and the level it’s at now,” Brad Collins, a midfielder from the Class of 2007, said during halftime. “It’s a cool feeling to know I played a small part in that. The team’s in a great spot, coach [Brizendine] and the staff, they have the team rolling, they’re top 25 consistently now which is great.”

John Harves, considered the founder of the team in 1972, was filled with nostalgia being back on campus and surrounded by his teammates.

“The reminiscing, of course, is fast and furious,” Harves joked. “We [the 1972 team] were talking about playing on the Drillfield with the ball bouncing on, what we would call the cow paths, that they eventually paved over with asphalt, and get kids to watch the games when they were changing classes. … We could get 200, 300 people watching. It’s amazing watching the progress of this program.”

For much of the match, a result one way or the other seemed very much in doubt. The first half was frustratingly quiet for both teams. Possessions were brief and uneventful and neither team had any noticeable momentum. Even the fans never got louder than a few soft cheers.

At halftime, while the past coaches and players were honored with a brief ceremony on the pitch, head coach Mike Brizendine spoke to the team about the lack of production.

“[The play was sluggish] is what I told the guys at halftime,” Brizendine told 3304 Sports after the match. “We were not sharp and it started in warm-ups. Playing all these tough games in a row is difficult and it’s hard to get up for every game but there’s a standard which we need to keep and we were not keeping that.”

Flores, after scoring the game-winning goal, echoed that sentiment.

“We came out the first 20 minutes of the half really slow and going into the game, our warm-up wasn’t the best to be honest,” he said. “The first thing we told ourselves was that we can’t let what happened in the warm-up translate into the game and the first 20 minutes, it clearly did.”

Having made adjustments coming out of the locker room, the Hokies looked noticeably more aggressive on both sides of the ball, and it soon paid off.

In the 53^rd minute, Ameres streaked up the sideline following a steal from Kinyua. Ameres crossed the ball into the box behind everyone. Jacob Labovitz, the team’s leading goal-scorer, did what he does best. He controlled the pass facing away from net, spun around, and fired a shot past Dowd to put the Hokies up 1-0.

Virginia Tech’s aggression would prove to be a double edge sword, as just 30 seconds after the goal, Martino would commit a foul in the box, setting up the Fighting Irish with a penalty kick.

They would capitalize, evening up the score courtesy of Philip Quinton.

“It was good [to break the ice], but unfortunately they scored like a minute later, so we were back to where we started,” Labovitz said after the game. “But it felt good to know that, since we had a so-so first half and I feel like, as soon as we got out, I knew the momentum was on our side and I thought we still played well in the second half.”

After the back-to-back goals, the second half fell into a similar rhythm as the first, with possessions being stifled before they could really blossom.

Virginia Tech continued to play more aggressively than the first half, pushing further up the field and getting closer towards the net. However, its final touch was always lacking, either being disrupted by Irish defenders or going out of play.

Despite the Hokies’ best efforts at the end of regulation, they were headed two their second consecutive overtime game at home. They had won their previous match in a thriller against Virginia.

The Hokies would get a couple chances of their own but would be met by the Irish defense in the box, deflecting shots away from net.

But they were finally gifted a final opportunity to end it when Ameres found Flores in the 18-yard box. Flores worked his magic around four Irish defenders, burying the ball in the back of the net, before he was mobbed by his teammates.

Labovitz credited the entire team for their effort throughout the season, especially this past week.

“We’ve needed everyone to win these games,” Labovitz said. “We’ve gone to double overtime in like three or four of our games so you need a whole team, you need a whole bench, you need every single player whether they step on the field or not.”

Despite the result, Brizendine sees key areas for improvement.

“The second half, it was better and we scored the goal, then let one up [30 seconds] later,” Brizendine said.” We have to stop doing that. We will never be a championship team if we can’t correct that, because we can’t always do what we’ve done the last couple of games.”

The Hokies haven't made it easy on themselves with this grueling week of games, as they'll have a quick turnaround before facing East Tennessee State University next Tuesday at home, then traveling up to north to play Boston College next Friday.

Coach Brizendine pointed out that, in a grueling schedule like this, they need to continue to do two things.

“We have to stop giving up goals. We have to,” Brizendine said. “Two against William & Mary, one here, one against UVa in situations where it shouldn’t have happened, where we were in control. Additionally, the schedule that we play, that Notre Dame plays, it’s daunting. We have a match on Tuesday and Kyle McDowell just ran 11 miles.”

“It’s just physically difficult to get the guys up,” Brizendine said. “We have to be better.”