hokies continue winning ways against no. 12 south carolina

Ishan Lamba

Staff Writer

September 13, 2021

Following a big 5-1 win at home over then-undefeated Villanova, the Hokies backed it up with a close 1-0 victory over No. 12 South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.

Virginia Tech (6-2) opened up the season hot with three home victories, outscoring its opponents 11-1. The team hit a rough patch on the road, losing to Cincinnati, narrowly beating James Madison, then getting shut out by the defending national champions, Santa Clara.

After their rebound victory over Villanova, the Hokies faced a tough opponent in South Carolina. The Gamecocks (5-2) made the NCAA tournament last spring, winning their opening match against Montana before falling to the No. 13-seed Georgetown.

South Carolina had also played three ACC opponents prior to Virginia Tech in NC State, Boston College, and Clemson, going 2-1 in that stretch.

Both offenses were kept quiet for the first 15 minutes of the game. The best chance was a soft pass threaded by Tori Powell to Emily Gray in the ninth minute, a shot that ultimately didn’t trouble Gamecocks’ goalie Heather Hinz.

The breakthrough came for the Hokies in the 20th minute, when Powell fed a ball through defenders to Gray, who chipped a volley across the net to a sliding Nicole Kozlova, who buried the ball in the back of the net to give Virginia Tech the lead.

The big three for Virginia Tech have been cooking all season, and it shows on the stat sheet. It was Kozlova’s fifth in the season and the assist was Gray’s 19th in her career, moving her into a tie for fourth place all-time in program history.

South Carolina persisted, despite being frustrated offensively, and it seemed as though it had its breakthrough in the 32nd minute. Ryan Gareis took the ball all the way to the endline before crossing it back to the penalty spot where Catherine Barry took a hard left-footed shot that was saved by Alia Skinner. The rebound was netted by Corinna Zullo but was deemed offside by the officials.

That controversial moment obviously frustrated the Gamecocks, as replays showed that Zullo may have been even with Emma Steigerwald and potentially onside when the original shot was taken.

Samantha Chang, the Gamecocks’ star player, was no exception, drawing the first yellow card of the game in the 39th minute off a needless challenge to Allie George.

The Hokies had a final blitz at the end of the first half, putting two shots on net for Hinz to save. However, going into the break, neither team had put up many chances.

The second half was quieter, consisting more of substitutions under the hot Columbia sun than goal scoring chances. Both teams featured at least 18 total players over the course of the game, looking towards their benches for an offensive spark.

South Carolina managed to get two shots on net in the 67th and 90th minutes, but despite its best efforts, it fell short.

Virginia Tech concludes its non-conference play with a statement victory, earning its first true road win over a ranked opponent since its opening match of the 2018 NCAA tournament (No. 17 Texas).

After the Hokies were beaten by No. 9 Santa Clara, coach Chugger Adair indicated that he was pleased with their performance but they didn’t get the result they wanted. Following the game, he spoke about what went differently.

“I think we learned, that’s why we play this game, to learn,” he said after the game. “We’re a fairly young team so it’s just learning experiences that we gain. We really followed the game plan today from start to finish and… we went deep into the roster, using kids in different spots and roles which was really good and it worked really well for us.”

The Hokies will begin ACC action against a 4-2-2 NC State squad that have also faced tough ranked opponents in Georgetown, South Carolina, and Penn State. Kickoff is slated for Saturday at 7 p.m. from Thompson Field.