Collegiate Times

It was quite a week for the Virginia Tech men's soccer team.

Last Friday, the Hokies were able to upset then No. 19 Clemson University in double overtime before a packed home crowd during the Hawthorne Suites Invitational Tournament. The winning shot came from senior midfielder Ben Nason at the 7:53 mark. The 2-1 win over the Tigers marked the beginning of the ACC regular conference season for the Hokies.

"It felt awesome," said elated head coach Oliver Weiss.

Weiss and the men's team were able to defeat the St. Johns University Red Storm the next night by the same close score of 2-1. With the weekend sweep, the Hokies found themselves the tournament champions. Junior forward Robert Edmans was also named the tournament's MVP and the ACC Player of the Week. Edmans finished the weekend tournament with a goal and two assists, one coming on the Nason goal that won the game against the Tigers. The pair of wins pushed the Hokies to a 3-1 overall record.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the Hokies had moved to No. 19 in the NCAA men's soccer poll with the weekend win over Clemson. Although they managed to crack the Top 25, the Hokies are still only fifth place in the ACC.

The team now turns its attention towards its next action, which will come in the Level 3 Golden Hurricane Classic in Tulsa, Okla. against No. 23 Tulsa on Friday and Oral Roberts on Sunday. Both may prove to be tough tests for a Hokie team whose opponents promise to only get more competitive as the season progresses.

"All we can do is stay focused and healthy," said Weiss. "We cannot look past these opponents to teams like University of Virginia and others who we will play in the coming weeks."

The Hokies' match against Tulsa begins at 8 p.m. Friday and can be seen on the Fox Soccer Channel as part of the NSCAA's College Match of the Week coverage. It will be the first televised match in the program's history. The action against Oral Roberts on Sunday begins at 12:30 p.m.

Cross Country

The men's and women's cross country teams found success over the weekend. Both teams placed first at the Virginia Tech Invitational. Although the competition was sparse, the men's team racked up 45 total points, five fewer than the second place team, Concord. The women's team blew their competition out of the water only totaling 27 points, eight fewer than second place Liberty. The meet itself was a good opportunity for Tech to race some of its more inexperienced runners as both teams are full of prospering freshmen.

"We expected to do pretty well," said head coach Ben Thomas, reflecting on his teams' performance this past weekend. "At this point of the season, every team is running their B-teams."

Both cross country teams have the week off. They will compete next at the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational on Sept. 21.