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

40 Inside Hokie Sports GETTING TO KNOW … MANDY M C GLYNN Q: You’ve done some work in the medical profession in the offseasons, right? What was that like? MM: I did volunteer at the hospital in the fall. I had a field study, and it was really cool. I got to discharge patients, and then I ran lab samples around and made the ER [emergency room] beds. Just helping out. When I shadowed, I just shadowed a nurse practitioner there. I got to see patients and get the rundown on them and how we could help them. One of the patients knew me, and he was such a huge soccer fan. He knew the goalkeeper for Virginia Tech, so I showed up, and he was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Mandy.’ It was so cute. It was a weird little colliding of worlds because I never expected that. Q: Where did you get this desire to become a physician assistant? MM: I watched Grey’s Anatomy when I was younger [laughing]. I wanted to be a thoracic surgeon like Cristina Yang [a fictional character played by Sandra Oh], but once I realized it was going to be really hard, I wanted to go to PA [physician assistant] school. Then growing up, I had some injuries, and I would have to go to the doctor, and just seeing his PA interact with me, I thought, ‘You’re really cool. I want to be like you.’ Q: What’s been your favorite moment at Tech? MM: I really liked the UVA win [in 2018]. Even though it’s a UVA-VT rivalry, it’s a UVA goalkeeper-VT goalkeeper rivalry. I love her [Laurel Ivory] to death. She was at camps with me growing up, and she was at the World Cup, too. We love each other. We help each other perform, but just having that little ‘W’ over them, that was like the cherry on top. It was just a really fun experience— just the rain, going to the locker room because of the rain delay, and we just got so hyped up and let it all hang out on the field. The celebrations afterward were amazing. Q: What’s been your toughest moment as a player? MM: My toughest moment was my worst mistake as a goalkeeper here. We were playing Notre Dame, and it was raining. It was a torrential downpour, and there was a cross. It just went through my hands. Never happened before. Just went through my hands and into the goal. I was doubting myself as a player at that moment, and it put the team down. Oh my gosh, it was just a speechless moment for me. It was really hard, but my team was so great in that moment. We went to the locker room at halftime, and we were down, and I was almost in tears. My team was like, ‘We’ve got this. You’ve done so much for us this season. We can do this for you.’ I still get choked up about it. That was another come-together moment. I knew I had put my team in a hard situation, but they were ready to battle for me. We ended up with a 2-1 win, and I was very, very proud of them. It was an unbelievable experience. It was a hard moment that turned into a cool moment—an empowering moment. SAVING THE Continued from page 39 , C.E.C. www.Pro f es s i o See our vintage ! See our vintage Ad!