Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech women’s soccer team rebounded from an overtime loss against Duke last week with a 4-1 win over the Oklahoma Sooners Thursday night.

Head Coach Chugger Adair switched up the Hokies starting lineup, especially on the defense, giving a starting nod to Junior Taylor Antolino.

“This was my first start of the season and my first time playing the full ninety minutes this season, and it felt great to be out on the field,” Antolino said.

Boasting a revamped starting lineup, it didn’t take the Hokies long to find the back of the net. Freshman Ashley Meier scored her sixth goal of the season off of a Shannon Mayrose assist before four minutes ticked off the clock.

“I thought we played well tonight and getting the first goal early really opened up the game for us and made us relax,” Adair said.

“I thought playing a few different players and resting Mayrose and Meier in the second half allowed for more balance in the minutes played by everyone.

The Hokies did not let off the gas after their first goal, which they’ve made a habit of in past games. Sophomore Katie Yensen scored off of a rebound from a hard shot by Junior forward Jazmine Reeves 33 minutes into the game.

“The buildup was all Jazmine, she had a great run and took a hard shot,” Yensen said.

“When the keeper made the save I just happened to be there and I finished it in the corner.”

The Hokies kept their momentum into the second half, controlling the tempo and possessing the ball for most of the game, until Oklahoma forward Amy Petrikin scored off of a deflection of a shot by freshman Jade Dapaah.

This lapse in concentration by the Virginia Tech defense caused the Hokies to take a proactive approach and put the game away.

“Their goal sparked us to generate more offense,” Yensen said. “We started possessing the ball more and calmed down a little bit and then we were able to put the two goals in the net.”

After many close chances throughout the match Reeves finally scored with 10 minutes left in the game when she chested the ball down and launched a hard shot which hit the inside of the goalpost and went into the goal.

Sophomore Ellie Zoepfl followed Reeves with a goal of her own when she chipped the ball over Oklahoma goalie Kelsey Devonshire's head for the first goal of her career.

With their win against the Sooners the Hokies finished their non-conference schedule 9-0, going undefeated in the non-conference schedule for the first time in the programs history.

“One of our team goals was to win all of our non-conference games and we accomplished that goal for the first time ever at Tech and it allows us to build our resume for the NCAA tournament bid,” Adair said.

The Hokies travel to Florida State, the current No. 1 team in the country on Thursday, and will remain in Florida until their Sunday game against Miami. 

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 9 issue of the Collegiate Times.