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

inside.hokiesports.com 41 118 S. Main Street TechBookstore.com Shop NikE gear and get game day ready! ® ORDER ONLINE FREE pick up in store! 3-0, all on second-half goals, but we miss a one-on-one midway through the first half. On the road, that could have been a real difference maker in the game. “In the ACC, there isn’t a lot of room for error. You’ve got to take those chances. Syracuse and Pitt are two games that we dominated in the shot aspect [32 against Syracuse; 23 against Pitt] and didn’t take the game. We missed a penalty kick in the Pitt game, and we missed one in the Pepperdine game. Those are ties that we wished we had back. You look at BC and Wake [both 0-0 ties], really good games for us, and both teams in each game could have won the game. The room for error was really marginal. We just didn’t take our chances.” The good news for the Hokies is that six of last year’s goal scorers return, led by sophomore Allyson Brown, who scored three goals, and junior Jordan Hemmen, who added two. Adair expects the Hokies to be more prolific and steadier in the midfield thanks to the return of Hemmen and others like Heather Timothy, Lilly Weber and Kristina Diana, and hopefully that equates to more production. Also a plus for the Hokies, many of the top defenders return on what was a rather stout Tech defense in 2017. Tech allowed just 20 goals—two off the school record for the fewest goals allowed in a season. Senior Alia Abu El Hawa and redshirt junior Kelsey Irwin anchor this year’s group, along with junior Jaylyn Thompson. Getting Odle and Henderson back at full speed only adds to a solid back line. They’ll be playing in front of one of the ACC’s best goalkeepers in Mandy McGlynn. The junior, who has started 34 games in her career, recorded seven shutouts in 2017. “She’s not only a great goalkeeper, but a great person and a great leader on our team,” Adair said. “We missed that a little in the spring [while McGlynn practiced with the U.S. U-20 National Team], and we hope she can come in and establish that with our group there. But her quality of goalkeeping is very good, and her presence is good as well.” McGlynn could miss the first four games of the season pending the outcome of the U.S. U-20 team and its performances at the U-20 Women’s World Cup being held in France on Aug. 5-24. The situation concerns Adair, who headed into fall practice with three other players vying for the backup job at goalkeeper. One of those three needs to emerge. Tech enters the season with a lot of optimism and for good reason. The Hokies have a combined 15 juniors and seniors on the roster, a strong defense and quality goalkeeping once McGlynn returns. They possess some potential at the forward spots—both returners and incoming freshmen who show an ability to score goals. “For us, it’ll be about limiting goal-scoring chances, winning our non-conference games, and taking our chances that we create [on offense],” Adair said. “We need to bond as a group in the belief that we can win games and continue to grow, and then as we get into conference, have that edge in conference games. Have that edge that we can win games.” This program has a lot of pieces. Everything is packed up and ready. On Aug. 17, the program’s big move hopefully begins. 6 Six returning players scored at least one goal last season 5 The Hokies tied five games in 2017, most in school history 4 Tech’s leading scorer a year ago (Alani Johnson) scored four goals 3 Mandy McGlynn had three shutouts in conference action in 2017 2 Mikayla Mance’s two assists last season are the most among returning players 1 Jordan Hemmen had the Hokies’ lone game-winning goal in ACC play 10 Mandy McGlynn started all 10 conference games in goal in 2017 9 Tech’s roster features nine juniors 8 Eight different returning players started at least 10 games a year ago 7 Allyson Brown’s seven points in 2017 rank as the most among returning players INSIDE T H E N U M B E R S