Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 1 | August 2018

38 Inside Hokie Sports Folks in the collegiate men’s soccer world probably view Virginia Tech as being in the throes of a rebuilding stage, considering the losses of 10 seniors off last season’s squad, including one of the program’s best ever goalkeepers and one of the program’s all-time greatest scoring threats. Yet when head coach Mike Brizendine took a minute out of a busy summer, sat down in his office and gazed at his 2018 roster, he felt something else—optimism, and lots of it. “As I look at it on paper, I get excited,” Brizendine said. “We just have more good players. Our standard across the board, 1-28, the level is going to be higher. I’m not claiming we have a Ben [Lundgaard] or a Marcelo [Acuna], but if you took the overall standard, it’s definitely raised. We’ve just got to get them together as a group as fast as possible.” The returning names won’t be familiar, as the Hokies relied on their star power over the past two seasons for undeniably good reasons. The contingent of Ben Lundgaard, Marcelo Acuna, Collin Verfurth, Elias Tamburini and others led the team to 25 wins and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Last fall, Tech played a brutal schedule, but still won 10 games, including a victory over Air Force in the first round of NCAA postseason action. Lundgaard and Acuna both earned first-team All-ACC recognition for their seasons, with Lundgaard later being taken in the first round of the Major League Soccer SuperDraft and Acuna later earning all-region honors. Tamburini received statewide honors from the state’s sports information directors for his work as a defender. They all depart, leaving Brizendine with the challenge of not just replacing those players, but molding them into a cohesive group—one that could help the program to a third consecutive NCAA appearance. “That group last year was special,” he said. “Our staff loves those guys. There wasn’t a day that didn’t go by that we didn’t look forward to training them and coaching them. But I look down this list and feel it could be the same thing. It could be the next generation of that group. I’m very excited about the new guys.” The Hokies enter the 2018 season with just one senior – Rory Slevin. Brizendine expects Slevin to be the leader of this team, and it’s certainly hard to overstate Slevin’s importance. Last year, the Hokies beat South Carolina 3-2 in Columbia, South Carolina and moved to 7-4 on the season. But Slevin went down with an injury in that game—and the Hokies promptly lost four straight games by a combined score of 12-1. Slevin essentially missed the rest of the season, returning only to play briefly in the Air Force win. Keeping him healthy remains paramount for the Hokies. “He’s very important,” Brizendine admitted. “It hurt a lot last year when he got hurt. It was a grind. There was no doubt.” Brizendine’s top concern heading into the season was trying to find a way to replace the production of Acuna, who led the teamwith 12 goals, including five game-winning goals. Acuna often came up big when it mattered. Witness the two goals he scored in the Hokies’ upset of then- No. 1 Notre Dame last fall. Sophomores Kristo Strickler and Justus Kauppinen figure to play large roles on offense this season. The two midfielders were productive 10 seniors who departed off last season’s team 9 players who recorded assists in 2017 (seven return for 2018) 8 games in which the Hokies scored at least two goals last season 7 points recorded last season by Kristo Strickler, most among returning players 6 games won by one goal by the Hokies in 2017 5 returning players who scored goals in 2017 (James Kasak, Kristo Strickler, Justus Kauppinen, Brendan Moyers, Gaetan Roux) 4 home games won by the Hokies in 2017 (4-3) 3 assists by Rory Slevin in 2017, most among returning players 2 goals scored in ACC play last season by returning players 1 the Hokies ranked No. 1 in the ACC in both saves and save percentage in 2017 INSIDE T H E N U M B E R S Season Preview 2 18 MEN’S SOCCER HOKIES Reloading , But Still Have SIGHTS SET on NCAA Bid by Jimmy Robertson The Virginia Tech men’s soccer team lost a lot of proven players off last season’s squad, but a group of talented, young standouts have the potential to lift the program to a third straight NCAA appearance by Jimmy Robertson Rory Slevin