The Rundown: Men's Soccer Pulls Through And Completes Late 2-1 Win against Presbyterian
Blacksburg, VA- 22 shots later, with a strong 11 on goal, would usually signify a win that felt like a breeze, especially considering that Presbyterian compiled just four shots and one on goal. Yet in soccer, it is hard to base how the game really played out, as exclamated by the Hokies narrow 2-1 scoreline Thursday night.
"We were fortunate, honestly. So, it's the crazy thing about soccer. You can have all these statistics: 22-4 in shots, nine saves for them, zero for us, and it can still be unbelievably tight. So, welcome to soccer.
Mike Brizendine is right; despite a real flurry of chances in the final 15 minutes of the first half, which was capped off by a Trey Gardiner header, the night was kind of in the balance throughout.
This is especially true when opposing striker Damorney Hutchinson caused havoc in the Tech backline with a neatly tucked-away goal in between the legs of Cooper Wenzel to even the score in the 70th minute before rattling an attempt off the post just seconds after his as he excellently peeled away from the Tech backline before nearly instating a Hokie deficit.
The second Tech goal came after the Hokies had just begun to gear the panic stations and were throwing players forward and shots on goal towards the final 15 minutes.
After a ball was steered at the front post and off the crossbar, after a header by Malick Thiaw, the ball ricocheted to the other side of the net and into the feet of freshman "Floki" Stephensen.
The former Bridgewater head coach alluded that he knew Presbyterian lacked structure in its set-piece routines. "Look, we worked on it this week. We thought that was a weakness of theirs. So again, I give congratulations to my staff for noticing that as a weakness and us putting a lot of emphasis on it."
Brizendine attributed the Hokies' lackluster second-half performance to the Hokies losing second balls that they were one winning and the fact that the Tech press was not up to the standard they have sat thus far, calling what happened on Thursday a "stumbling block."
For Tech, they now hit the road for the next three games, the latter two being the start of the ACC season with points up for grabs at Syracuse and SMU after a trip to South Carolina to take on Furman.
CONNOR MARDIAN