Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 2 | October 2019

Florida State, where every woman in her family had attended school—she would have been a fourth generation family attendee to FSU—only showed token interest. Ticked at that, she refused to show any energy toward FSU coaches whenever they made cursory calls. So it came down to Tech and Clemson, and as is usually the case, a visit to Blacksburg sealed the decision. “When I came to Virginia Tech, Chugger, the goalkeeper coach at the time, and Drew [Kopp, an assistant coach] really showed how much they valued me,” McGlynn said. “They were invested in me, and I felt very special to them. They felt like dads to me, and I knew I could fit in well with them. I like the four seasons, and just visiting Tech, it was beautiful. They support our student-athletes so well. They showed that very nicely on the visits, and I really liked that they cared so much. I didn’t feel that way anywhere else. “One day coming home from practice, I told mom, ‘I want to commit to Virginia Tech.’ She was like, ‘Really?’ I’m like, ‘Yep.’ So I called Chugger, and that was that.” Her collegiate career actually started much earlier than she anticipated. In May of 2016—the spring of McGlynn’s junior season of high school—Tech’s staff learned that starting goalkeeper Kaylyn Smith planned to transfer to Washington, leaving the Hokies with a void at the position. Knowing that his prized recruit was enrolled in an early college program at Sandalwood High School, Adair called Shannon McGlynn, Mandy’s mother, to inquire about the possibility of her daughter graduating early and enrolling at Tech for the fall semester. Shannon McGlynn said the family would think about it, but actually kept the phone call private for an indefinite period of time before finally informing her daughter of the possibility. There would be sacrifices— no senior season with your teammates, no senior photos, no prom. It also meant taking oft-dreaded summer school courses to graduate and become eligible to attend Tech. In her case, that would mean two—U.S. history and economics. “It was just madness,” McGlynn said. “But I talked to my goalkeeper coach, and he said it would be best for my development if I got myself Interestingly, McGlynn never dreamed she’d be a goalkeeper during her childhood in the Jacksonville, Florida suburbs. She started the sport when she turned 4, and like every other young kid, she liked scoring goals, not stopping them. Her coaches, though, gradually moved her back a line as she grew older. She became a midfielder, and later, a defender. In one game, McGlynn kept fouling and received a yellow card. Lacking a deep bench, her club coach put her at goalkeeper to limit her from fouling, and he kept her there for a couple of games before moving her back to defender. Not long after that, he decided to get out of coaching. As he departed, he gently gave McGlynn some advice. “Mandy, you need to try out for this next team as a goalkeeper,” he said. McGlynn desperately wanted to play on the “A” team, so she was willing to make the move. Her mom, an assistant coach on her club squad, had reservations. “I gradually went back there,” McGlynn said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, she’s a goalkeeper’ from the start. But then when he saw me in a couple of games as a goalkeeper, he was like, ‘OK, this is where she’s going to thrive.’ My mom was an assistant coach at the time, and she was like, ‘No, no, no, she’s not a goalkeeper.’ She was really unsettled about the fact that I was catching balls kicked at me. I tried out at a different club, and that’s where my career started. I was 10.” Her decision to move led to her becoming one of the most sought after recruits in the country, particularly after she led her club team to a second consecutive USYSA national title. She gradually pared her choices down to three—Texas, Clemson and Virginia Tech. Texas wooed her with all its money—glitz and glamour in the formof facilities. But the Longhorns weren’t in the ACC, and McGlynn wanted to play in the best conference in the country for women’s soccer. inside.hokiesports.com 39 Continued on page 40 women’s soccer spotlight mandy mcglynn