hokies' championship bid ends in heartbreak

Ishan Lamba

May 7, 2021

CARY, N.C. — In the 81^st minute, the mood was a nervous excitement for Virginia Tech, who led Seton Hall, 2-1.

Just nine minutes separated the team from its first quarterfinal appearance since 2016. But in the span of a single minute, all of that changed.

Both Virginia Tech (7-6-4, 5-5-2 ACC) and Seton Hall (10-1-4, 5-1-2 Big East) were coming off respective thrillers in the previous round that advanced them to the Sweet 16.

Seton Hall’s CJ Tibbling came up big for the Pirates moments before the match seemed destined for overtime. The leading scorer buried a goal in the 89^th minute to send the Pirates to the Sweet 16.

Virginia Tech, on the other hand, needed more than just 90 minutes. Chris Little put up a magical ball that Virginia Tech’s leading scorer, Jacob Labovitz, headed in off the woodwork for a Hokie victory with just a second left.

With both teams coming off dramatic, last second victories, Thursday night's clash was sure to produce fireworks.

Matt Zambetti atoned for a couple of keeping gaffes in the previous match with monumental saves in the fourth and fifth minutes on two seperate shots from Tibbling.

The Hokies’ goalie came up huge again after defenseman Nathan Durst conceded a penalty kick with a hard foul in the box. Seton Hall’s JP Marin skipped up to the spot before delivering a hard shot that was blocked by the outstretched Zambetti diving to his right.

After dealing with the subsequent corner, Virginia Tech’s front three moved on the counterattack. Labovitz, the hero of Tech’s first game, advanced the ball into the box before crossing to his teammate Nick Blacklock.

Blacklock had an innocent-looking shot on goal that turned costly when it took a deflection off of defender Luca Dahn and past the outstretched arms of Pirates’ goalie Andreas Nota.

Within two minutes, the Hokies turned the momentum around and led the Big East champions 1-0.

That didn’t calm the Pirates down, however. They continued to pepper the Virginia Tech goal with shots, with Zambetti amassing seven saves in the first 21 minutes.

The Hokies kept the Pirates at bay for most of the first half until a set piece in the final minute.

James Boote delivered a perfect corner to Maurice Williams, who headed it opposite Zambetti’s movement, with the ball sailing just past his outstretched fingertips into the back of the net.

It was relief for Seton Hall, which had 14 shots in the half and grew increasingly frustrated with every passing minute.

Despite the Hokies going into the halftime break with heavy shoulders, they came out upbeat and aggressive.

Labovitz had a hard foul in the 52^nd minute that earned him the first yellow of the game, but he was unphased, delivering another pass — this time behind the back — to Nick Blacklock who rocketed in another chance to earn him a brace on his birthday.

The Hokies again led 2-1.

To begin the next half, both teams exchanged shots, but none of them threatened the goal. Seton Hall calmed down significantly from the first half, producing just three shots in the first 32 minutes of the second half.

Virginia Tech had a chance to put the game away when midfielder Camron Lennon produced two chances for the Hokies to score in a span of a minute.

First in the 78^th minute, he worked the ball to the near side of the field, finding an opening in the box. He dribbled precariously near the end line, delivered a cross to Kristo Strickler who placed a hard shot on goal, but Nota was up to the task as he knocked Strickler’s shot away.

Just 30 seconds later, Lennon worked himself free and shot the ball from the top of the box. A loud “clang” rang out across the field, as the ball caught the left post.

The Hokies, fans and team alike, felt that they were in a good place. But Seton Hall began making its final pushes, and the aggressive attack paid off.

Tech conceded another corner, and when the Hokies felt confident that they would waltz into the next round, Andrea Borg found an opening to deliver the equalizer for the Pirates.

Utter chaos.

And then disaster struck for the Hokies.

Labovitz, who played a hand in all four tournament goals and was already sitting with a yellow card, was given a red card for a dangerous challenge.

Collectively, the Hokie faithful felt its heart sink as Labovitz slowly trudged off the field. With Tech down to 10 men, it shifted strategy, playing a 4-4-1 the rest of the way. Shots and chances began raining down on the Hokies as they had to play on the back foot.

Despite being down an extra attacker, Brizendine became aggressive with two minutes left in regulation.

He subbed off his extra defensemen for attackers and it almost paid off. They managed to generate pressure in the closing seconds, and Lennon again had another chance for the third goal with just 10 seconds left, but the shot was blocked.

“I thought we were on top of ‘em, so [with 10 men] you can’t really go on top of them,” Brizendine told reporters after the game. “I thought we created a couple chances and we didn’t give them much.”

Seton Hall took advantage after the sting had been taken away from Virginia Tech’s offense, but its chances in the first overtime were thwarted by offsides calls and all of its shots at the goal had sailed wide.

In the second overtime, both teams played more aggressively.

Virginia Tech went on the attack. Little and Blacklock both had shots in the first two minutes, trying to put pressure back on Seton Hall. Tech's first corner kick of the game in the 104^th minute but still couldn’t convert.

A miscommunication in the Hokies’ defense allowed for a corner kick in the 109^th minute, but was unable to convert its final corner of the game.

But after neither team was able to score in either overtime period, both teams held their breath as the shootout commenced.

Sivert Haugli and Johannes Pex opened the accounts for each team with simple goals. Nick Blacklock piled onto his birthday performance with a hard, high shot to put Virginia Tech up 2-1.

Zambetti, coming off one of his best career performances, made a huge stop on Camil Koreichi to keep the Hokies ahead. The crowd that traveled down from Blacksburg rejoiced.

The celebrations were brief as Landon Ameres missed the very next shot, hitting a weak-footed shot directly into Nota’s chest. Tibbling would make no mistake as he evened the count again to two.

Tension and blood pressure continued to rise as both teams drilled goal after goal, anxious to see who would break first.

After each team made four consecutive goals, Chris Little gave Seton Hall the opening it needed, pushing the shot too far to the right, hitting the post and rolling away from goal. Nota’s dive was not long enough and the shot would’ve easily cleared him, had it been on target.

Nota, the Rome native, decided to call his own number. Goalie versus goalie.

The whistle blew and Nota jogged up to the ball.

He delivered the shot into the goal and a dagger into the hearts of Hokie fans. Cheers rang out from Seton Hall fans as the team ambushed its goalie.

“Unfortunately, that’s not what we wanted,” Brizendine said. “We thought we could’ve done better possessing. … In games like this, we need people to be sharp and I didn’t think we were very sharp in the first half and they made us pay.”

Virginia Tech walked off the field in agony, asking “what if?”

What if the Hokies were stronger in the first half? What if Stricker’s or Lennon’s second half chances had found the back of the goal. What if Tech’s leading scorer was on the field for the team’s final 15 minutes?