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A
few years ago, most men’s soccer coaches in the ACC and outside
of it looked at their team’s schedule and marked any games
against Virginia Tech as a “W.”
These days, said coaches are taking a more cautious approach
where it concerns the Hokies.
They do so with good reasoning, as Virginia Tech won 13 games
last season, received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships and
advanced to the Elite Eight before a 2-0 loss to Wake Forest ended the
Hokies’ season. Their incredible campaign and subsequent run in the
tournament served as one of the best stories in Virginia Tech athletics
during the 2016-17 academic year.
“It was great,” Tech head men’s soccer coach Mike Brizendine
said. “Before the season, we thought that we would be pretty good.
Definitely when we got to the NCAA tournament, we exceeded even
our own expectations. It was a really fun season, not just because of
the success we had and going to the Elite Eight. We just had a great
group of guys.”
Most of that great group of guys return for this upcoming season.
Yes, the Hokies saw six seniors depart, including steady Juan Pablo
Saavedra and second-leading scorer Alessandro Mion. Toronto FC of
Major League Soccer drafted Saavedra in the fourth round, and Mion
plays in Cyprus, which gives an indication of their talent.
But nine of the 11 starters return, including a trio that serves as the
top goal scorer (Marcelo Acuna), the goalkeeper (Ben Lundgaard),
20
17
MEN’S SOCCER
PREVIEW
COLLIN
VERFURTH
MEN’S SOCCER
ready for
ENCORE
after
terrific
2016 season
The Hokies return nine
of 11 starters and most
of their roster from last
year’s Elite Eight
run, creating a lot
of preseason
optimism,
but a difficult
schedule looms
this fall
by
Jimmy Robertson
and the leader, Collin Verfurth, a “glue” guy who takes care of the
little things that allow big things to happen. That alone creates lofty
expectations for a program that won just five games two years ago.
“We return nine of 11 starters, and six or seven of them are locks,”
Brizendine said a week before fall practice started. “It’s just a matter
of blending in those other guys and figuring out how we can get our
best 11 on the field. It’s going to be competitive, and that will be
another thing that will be so much fun about preseason.”
The player getting the most attention is Acuna, who transferred
to Tech from Houston Baptist before last season. As a Hokie, Acuna
earned All-ACC honors after leading the team with 11 goals—
a number that ranked third in the ACC.
Acuna gave the Hokies something that they needed—a player with
the ability to put the ball in the back of the net on a consistent basis.
He delivered in the clutch, too, as five of his goals were of the game-
winning variety.
“He was a compliment to what we already had,”
Brizendine said. “I thought we should have gone to
the NCAA tournament two years ago. But for
one reason or another, mainly injuries, we
didn’t … we had a good foundation,
but he was the piece that put us
over the top, and it helps
that he’s a goal scorer.
34
Inside Hokie Sports