Collegiate Times

It’s no secret that the Virginia Tech men’s soccer team has struggled mightily over the last three years. 

In these three seasons, the team has amassed 16 wins while playing a total of 58 games. The Hokies have not had much success in the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2007, when they went 14-4-5 overall and made it to the semifinals in the NCAA tournament — the best season in school history.

In February, 10 new players committed to the Tech program. Many players came from Virginia, as well as one each from Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Iowa.

“I think probably the best thing is, we got a good mix of in-state and out-of-state kids,” said Patrick McSorley, an assistant coach. “One of the things we went into as a staff, when we were first getting together, was to go in and evaluate and try to get some of the better Virginia kids to come to school here. I think we did that with the number of kids from Virginia.”

Head coach Michael Brizendine was particularly happy with the number of in-state recruits who chose to come to Tech next fall.

“We always want to put our stamp on the state of Virginia, and I think we did that,” Brizendine said. “We have a couple kids that are very good, one of the kids is one of the best kids in the state. I was very pleased with that.”

While the group is talented on the soccer pitch, Brizendine said he thinks they will thrive as Hokies in general.

“We feel very confident about their soccer abilities, but also what they’re bringing to the table as far as their academics and the fact that they are just good young men, which is what we try to recruit here,” he said.

The recruiting process for soccer is very different from a sport like football. Often with soccer, many of the best players in the nation compete at national tournaments, making it easier for out-of-state coaches to recruit players.

“When we go out recruiting we typically go to big events that have teams from all over the country and we identify players at those big events, and then narrow our process down from there,” said Kevin Doyle, also an assistant coach.

The ACC has historically had some of the most successful teams in the nation. Both McSorley and Doyle agree that the Tech name is one of their main selling points when trying to sign a recruit.

“When we go out, we see kids from Texas, Iowa and California,” McSorley said. “It’s nice for us to go out to California and say we’re from Virginia Tech and there’s name recognition immediately because of the athletic program and the school in general so it’s easy for us to recruit that way. “

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 25 issue of the Collegiate Times.