Soccer Comes up Short in ACC Opener
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Facing No. 18 Virginia Tech in the conference opener, the University of Miami soccer team dropped a closely contested road match, 2-0, at Thompson Field Saturday night.
“We made two critical mistakes on set pieces that were really unfortunate. Credit to {Virginia Tech] for taking advantage,” Miami head coach Sarah Barnes said. “But at the end of the day, we lost the game because too many times we did a great job defensively and worked hard to turn them over, then we gave it right back to them.
“You are going to have a hard time beating anyone in this conference until you’re composed enough to win the ball and keep it, especially under low or no pressure. That is the number one thing that has to change,” Barnes continued. “It’s not a lack of effort or ability. It’s composure. It’s confidence. It’s total commitment to playing our game. Defensively, we played hard, we did well in several difficult situations and [Tyler Speaks] made some great saves. We advanced the ball into good attacking positions a number of times. Some of our decisions need to improve, but it really comes down to keeping the ball after we win it. We are capable. When we consistently show the discipline and commitment to fixing that, we will be competitive in the ACC. If we keep repeating the same mistakes, it will be very difficult for us.”
The first of the aforementioned miscues discussed by Barnes took place off of a free kick in the eighth minute. Virginia Tech’s Emily Gray took the initial shot from 22-yards out and capitalized off of a deflection. Speaks made the then-proper dive towards the far right post before the ball made a drastic turn towards the left.
Four minutes later, following a Hokies breakaway, senior defender Bayleigh Chaviers got on the other end of a shot by Nicole Kozlova, securing the block and clearing it out of harm’s way.
Making her first career ACC start, Speaks corralled her first save of the night in the 30th minute of action.
Nine minutes later, the sophomore goalkeeper made an unbelievable diving save off a shot by Mikayla Mance.
At the break, Virginia Tech (9-0-0, 1-0-0 ACC) held an 8-1 shot advantage over Miami (3-3-1, 0-1-0 ACC), with a trio of shots sent on target.
Looking to get on the board, Miami got the offensive attack going when Chaviers connected with Tia Dupont in the 53rd minute. However, the junior forward’s attempt was denied by Mandy McGlynn.
Eight minutes later, Chaviers slipped a pass off to Kristina Fisher and the senior forward sent a rocket towards the bottom right corner of the net. However, once again McGlynn was able to make the stop.
With just under five minutes remaining in regulation, the Hurricanes’ chance at a late comeback slipped away off of a miscue on a throw-in. Gray took full advantage for the Hokies and found herself one-on-one with Speaks, before striking the ball into the lower left corner to place Virginia Tech in front, 2-0.
The Hurricanes will look to regroup before traveling to Chestnut Hill, Mass., where they will battle Boston College Thursday at 7 p.m. The match will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.
To keep up with the University of Miami soccer team on social media, follow @CanesFutbol on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
