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

inside.hokiesports.com 41 out of that Jacksonville Football Club situation and went on and started my career at Virginia Tech. So I said yes. I had to take U.S. history and economics real quick and finish in June, and I was at Tech in July. I had to do Florida virtual school to get those credits just in time for graduation. “I knew I was going to make some sacrifices, but at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be the player that I am today if I hadn’t come early.” “It wasn’t toomuch of a sales job, to be honest with you,” Adair said, with a smile. “She was ready to push her career and ready to take that next step.” McGlynn has been entrenched as the Hokies’ goalkeeper ever since arriving on campus. In fact, she has started every game in which she has played during her career, and a year ago, she played every minute of the season on her way to earning first-team All-ACC honors. She became the fourth Tech player to do that and the first goalkeeper. She came up big in the biggest situations a season ago. She made five saves in the Hokies’ upset of then-No. 6 Virginia, and in the NCAA Championship, she recorded two saves in helping Tech hand Texas its only home loss. She followed that performance with a school-record nine saves in Tech’s win over Arkansas. Her great play has continued this season, as she recorded seven shutouts in the first nine games. She holds the school record with 30 career shutouts. “I’m not really surprised,” Adair said of his goalkeeper’s stellar play. “She has this fun personality. She works hard. She’s light-hearted, but when we step on the field, she does her work, and she’s been putting in a lot of work over the years and growing as a goalkeeper and as a leader and as a teammate. I’m not surprised at the quality that she’s given us. I think she’s one of the best goalkeepers in the country.” Those outside the college ranks have taken notice. She missed three matches during her freshman season while attending a U.S. national team tryout camp and ultimately competing for the U.S. national U-18 team in three matches (friendlies) in Northern Ireland—the only missed matches of her collegiate career. The timing stunk, of course, but McGlynn’s dream is to secure a spot on the U.S. national team and to play in a World Cup or an Olympics. So she accepted the national team invitation. So far in her career, McGlynn has played for the U.S.’s U-19, U-20 and U-23 teams in international events, with her crowning moment coming last year when she made the U-20 national team that competed in the World Cup in France. Her international travels include trips to France, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Northern Ireland. “I have a rule to myself never to say no to U.S. soccer,” she said. “You can say ‘No, thank you,’ to camps, but when you do that, you’re just giving someone else an opportunity. Yes, I was a freshman [in 2016], and I think I missed three games—all ACC games. But I sat down and talked to my coaches, and they were very supportive. They know my goals and my ambitions. They supported me and worked with me, and the team got through it. I don’t regret going, but I did love when I came back and played for Tech again.” McGlynn hopes to lead Tech to another NCAA Championship appearance and a subsequent deep run in that to close out her career. She graduates in December with a degree in human nutrition, foods and exercise and a minor in psychology—she’ll graduate in 3.5 years after enrolling a year early—and hopes one day to attend physician assistant school. But not before continuing her soccer exploits at the next level. The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) holds its draft in January, and McGlynn hopes to get drafted. She also plans to keep striving for a spot on the full U.S. national team. “The ultimate goal is to be a professional soccer player on the full team that’s competing for Olympics and World Cups,” she said. “That’s everything I would love to do in one sentence. “But I know I can’t play soccer forever. I think it would be really cool to coach someday. Both of my parents were coaches, really good coaches, and I’ve encountered a lot of good coaches from the different teams I’ve played on and the different national teams. I see and love what they do for me, and I want to do that for someone else. So maybe coach and go to graduate school at the same time.” At leastMcGlynnwill have options. Those arguably came about because she got a second chance to make a better impression. She took advantage of it—and for that, she and Virginia Tech always will be grateful.