Lady Vol Soccer Falls at Virginia Tech

Friday, September 7

Blacksburg, VA

University of Tennessee

2-1-0

Virginia Tech

2-1-0

TENNESSEE

Virginia Tech

September 07, 2007 | Soccer

Box Score

Box Score | Box Score (PDF)

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Freshman forward Marika Gray scored both goals for Virginia Tech, which held on to secure a 2-1 victory over the University of Tennessee women???s soccer team in its first match at the Hawthorn Suites Hokie Invitational in Blacksburg, Va.

???The credit goes to Virginia Tech for coming out very inspired and emotionally invested in tonight???s match,??? Head Coach Angela Kelly said. ???They were battling for every ???50-50??? ball and were dominant in the air.???

Gray needed just two shots within three minutes of each other to give VT the victory. In the 18th minute, Gray received a pass from sophomore forward Robin Chidester on the right hand side of the box, settled it and put in past UT junior goalkeeper Jaimel Johnson for the score.

Two and a half minutes later, the Hokies got through the Lady Vol defense again, with Gray getting a pass from freshman midfielder Kelly Lynch, taking a nearly identical shot.?? VT got the same result to take a 2-0 lead at the 19:30 mark.

The Lady Vols, who sported maroon and orange shoe laces to honor the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting last April, played an aggressive second half, getting a score from junior midfielder Alissa VonderHaar. The goal came after Johnson placed a free kick from midfield into the box. The kick was then touched by junior forward Kylee Rossi and senior defender Jordan Falcusan before being put into the back of the net by VonderHaar. The goal was the first of the junior transfer???s UT career.

The Hokies controlled the ball for most of the first half, putting four of their seven shots on frame. Along with the two goals, VT sophomore forward Julian Johnson forced Jaimel Johnson to come out of the goal and make a huge save in a one-on-one situation in the 28th minute, while freshman midfielder Jennifer Harvey put a header just over the top of the goal in the eighth minute. The UT keeper made two saves in the first half, seeing three corners from the Hokies.

The second half saw the Lady Vols post seven shots, four of which were on frame. VT junior goalkeeper Ashley Owens made seven saves in the match, including three in the second half. In a physical match, the two teams combined for 22 fouls, with Virginia Tech committing 14 infractions.

???We try to learn from every loss as well as every win and we definitely have learned a lot of lessons after tonight???s match,??? Kelly said. ???We will learn a lot from our mistakes and try to correct for Sunday against a very strong Wake Forest team.???

UT continues play in the Hawthorn Suites Hokie Invitational on Sunday against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons dropped a 2-1 decision to Loyola (Md.) in Friday???s early match. First kick for the LadyVols and Wake Forest is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday.