first inning offense propels hokies to doubleheader sweep

Kolbjorn Bergstrom

April 9, 2021

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — After an upset victory on the road last week, Virginia Tech will look to conclude its season with a win against Notre Dame in a matchup of the two lowest seeded teams in the ACC Coastal standings on Friday at 7 p.m.

After winning their first match of the ACC spring season against No. 15 North Carolina, the Hokies are now 1-4-0 in ACC play this spring. The win brought their total record to 5-6-2.

Senior midfielder Kristo Strickler secured the only goal of the match while sophomore goalkeeper Matt Zambetti had a career night with nine saves to hold off UNC at Chapel Hill. The win last week marked Virginia Tech’s first victory against UNC since 2011.

When Virginia Tech and Notre Dame matched up this past fall, Virginia Tech went on to win in a game that was decided by a goal from senior forward Jacob Labovitz in the 51^st minute.

This past Saturday, the Fighting Irish traveled to Pennsylvania and took on No. 1 Pittsburgh. Though the visitors were able to hold off the Panthers off the scoreboard in the first half, the second half was a different story, as Pittsburgh went on to win the match 2-0.

Notre Dame has had a rough end to its season as it lost its last three ACC games resulting in a 1-4-0 record in the conference and an overall record of 8-8-0. The skid has been unfortunate for the Fighting Irish, as they’ve come up short against ranked ACC opponents in those games as well.

Virginia Tech trails in the all-time series with Notre Dame with a 4-6-1 record, though the Hokies have a four-game win streak coming into this match.