Hokie ClubVirginia Tech (5-6-2) vs. Howard (1-13-0)
Oct. 16 • 7:00 p.m.
Thompson Field • Blacksburg, Va.
Live Stats: http://www.hokiesports.com/msoccer/live
SCOUTING HOWARD
• Howard comes to Thompson Field after dropping a pair of one-goal games in the sunshine state last week, a 2-1 match at FIU on Oct. 12 and a 1-0 match at FAU on Oct. 14.
• The Bison picked up its first win of the season on Oct. 7 in a 1-0 game against Washington Adventist.
• Howard has scored seven goals on the year with three of them coming from Phillip Coker. The junior from Trinidad & Tobago also leads the team in assists with two.
• Only one other player has more than two points for the Bison, Brian Monge (1 G, 1 A).
• Howard’s five other goals have come from five different players.
• The Bison have been shutout eight times this season.
SERIES HISTORY
• This season’s matchup with Howard will mark only the third time in school history that the Hokies have played the Bison.
• Both sides have won one game in the series with both teams picking up their wins on the road.
• The 2010 match in Washington, D.C., saw the Hokies convert on seven of their 10 shots on goal in a 7-2 rout.
• Last season, Howard stunned the home side in the season opener with a 2-1 win despite being outshot 18-4. The Bison converted on its only two shots on goal of the game.
HOKIES IN YOUR HOME
For fans looking to catch a game live, but can’t attend, 10 Hokie matches will broadcast live either online or on TV throughout the 2012 season.
• Hokies All-Access (http://www.hokiesports.com/allaccess)
• Aug. 26 vs. Richmond, 2:30 p.m.
• Sept. 14 vs. Boston College, 7:00 p.m.
• Sept. 28 vs. Wake Forest, 7:00 p.m.
• Oct. 23 vs. Radford, 7:00 p.m.
• Oct. 27 vs. Duke, 7:00 p.m.
• ESPN3
• Sept. 8 at North Carolina, 7:00 p.m.
• Now. 1 at Clemson, 7:00 p.m.
• ACCDN on YouTube
• Sept. 21 at Maryland, 7:30 p.m.
• Oct. 12 vs. NC State, 7:00 p.m.
• RSN
• Oct. 19 at Virginia, 6:30 p.m.
JUST GIVE THEM THE LEAD
• In all five Hokies wins this season, they’ve scored first.
• Three of the five games resulted in shutouts.
• The earliest that the Hokies have scored this season is the 14:46 mark when Hunter Jecius connected on a header from a Ben Strong corner kick against NJIT.
HOKIE WALL
• Goalkeeper Kyle Renfro is right where he left off last year. After leading the ACC with 100 saves in 2011, the junior currently leads the conference in saves (59) and saves per game (4.54).
• His nine saves in a 1-1 draw versus Boston College on Sept. 14 tied his career high which was set on Sept. 10, 2011 in a 1-0 double-overtime win over No. 1 North Carolina.
• The nine saves is a game-high amongst ACC keepers this season.
• At No. 1 Maryland on Sept. 21, Renfro was one save shy of his high, recording eight stops against a relentless Terrapin attack.
• His eight career shutouts is two away from cracking the school’s top five.
GOAL SCORING FRESHMEN
• Freshmen have accounted for six of the team’s 13 goals with Daniel Lauretano and Connor Pompilio recording two a piece.
•Pompilio has taken two shots this season, finding the back of the net on both occasions. His second goal was a game-winner against NJIT.
• Hunter Jecius has two shots on the year, recording his first goal is a Hokie on his second attempt.
OFFENSIVE HOKIES
• Seven Hokies have combined to score the teams 13 goals.
• David Clemens leads the team with five goals which is tied for fourth in the ACC, while his 11 points is tied for seventh-most in the league.
• Freshmen Daniel Lauretano and Connor Pompilio have each tallied a pair of goals with each recording a game-winner.
• Lauretano tallied his first collegiate goal in the season opener against SIU-Edwardsville.
• Jed Prater notched his first goal of the season, and third of his career, after converting a penalty kick in a 1-0 game versus Temple.
• Drew Hartell and Connor Pompilio tallied their first goals of the season and first of their careers on Sept. 2 versus St. Bonaventure as Clemens and Lauretano scored their second goals of the year in the 4-0 victory.
• The last time Tech defeated a team by four goals or more was nearly two years ago in a 7-2 win over Howard on Sept. 14, 2010.
• After coming in as a substitute in the first game, Lauretano recorded his first goal as a Hokie against SIU-Edwardsville. Three starts later, the freshmen tallied his second goal on the year, the game-winner against St. Bonaventure.
• Six games into his final season, midfielder David Fiorello tallied the first goal of his career in dramatic fashion with a 35-yard high-arching shot that looped over the BC keeper Justin Luthy for a game-tying goal in the 83rd minute while playing his team was playing a man down.
• On Sept. 25 against VMI, Clemens had a breakout game, notching his first-career hat trick in a 3-1 win. He is only the third ACC player to record a hat trick this season.
• His seven shots versus VMI and St. Bonaventure tied his career high for a single game. It is the third time in his career that he has recorded seven shots and it the most shots in a game for any ACC player this season.
HOLDING OPPONENTS IN CHECK
• Despite allowing 185 shots through 13 games, Tech’s defense has allowed 18 shots to find the back of the net.
• Opponents have tallied 10 or more shots against Tech in 10 of the team’s 13 matches.
• Against one of the country’s most potent attacks, the Hokies held No. 1 Maryland to two goals on Sept. 21. To that point, it marked only the second time that Maryland had been held to less than three goals.
MULTIPLE #1’s
• For the second-straight season, Tech faced multiple top-ranked opponents.
• Last year, the Hokies upset North Carolina 1-0 in double overtime before falling to Maryland two weeks later, 2-0. Both matches were played at Thompson Field.
• This season, Tech hit the road for both matches as the squad fell 2-0 to North Carolina and Maryland.
• The two sides are currently 1-2 in the NSCAA rankings.
WHO NEEDS TO PLAY AT FULL STRENGTH
• The Hokies had a gutsy performance in a 1-1 draw against Boston College on Sept. 14. After going down a goal in the 46th minute, Tech was forced to play down a man after a red card was issued to DeVante DuBose. The Hokies fought back to tie the game on an 83rd minute goal by captain David Fiorello.
• After going down a man, Tech equaled its first half shot total of three during the final 40 minutes of regulation before adding another three during the 20 minutes of extra time.
• During the final 60 minutes of play, Boston College took 10 shots, two less than the first 50 minutes.
MINUTE MEN
• David Clemens, David Fiorello, Jed Prater, Drew Ranahan, Kyle Renfro and Ben Strong have each eclipsed the 1,100-minute mark this season for the Hokies through 13 games.
• Fiorello is the lone Hokie to eclipse 1,200 minutes this season after playing every minute thus far (1,210).
• Prater, Ranahan, Renfro and Strong led Tech in minutes logged a season ago. The four amassed 6,969 minutes in 19 games.
LEARNING ON THE FLY
• Tech has 16 players this season who have been in the program for less than two years. With David Fiorello being the lone senior on the 2012 squad, and only seven upperclassmen in all.
• Seven underclassmen have logged more than 550 minutes this season with Daniel Lauretano, Drew Ranahan and Ben Strong each totaling more than 800 minutes played.
• Redshirt sophomore Drew Ranahan leads all underclassmen with 1,178 minutes played while Daniel Lauretano leads all freshmen with 830 minutes.
ACC TEST
• The Hokies finished off a grueling conference test from Sept. 8-28 in which the team took on four of the top teams in the ACC according to the NSCAA rankings.
• Tech opened the ACC season with 2-0 defeat at No. 1 North Carolina on Sept. 8. The Hokies followed that up with a 1-1 double overtime draw against Boston College at Thompson Field on Sept. 14. The Eagles were receiving votes at the time after opening the season ranked No. 14.
• On Sept. 21, the Hokies fell 2-0 to No. 1 Maryland. A week later, Tech was defeated 4-0 at home by No. 16 Wake Forest.
AMONG THE BEST
• The Atlantic Coast Conference has traditionally been one of the nation’s top conferences in men’s soccer and this year is no different. Currently three schools (North Carolina, Maryland and Wake Forest) are ranked in the NSCAA’s top 20, which is the second-most of any conference behind the BIG EAST.
• The league began the season with three teams ranked in the NSCAA’s top 25 preseason poll which was second behind the BIG EAST’s four.
445:02
• The Hokies kept their opposition from finding the net for a total of 445:02 minutes during the first five games of the season.
• All five goals allowed during this time were surrendered during two stretches that total less than five minutes. The Hokies allowed SIUE to score three goals in span of three minutes and eight seconds in the season opener while North Carolina’s Martin Murphy scored twice one minute and 52 seconds.
CAPTAINS
• Senior David Fiorello will finish out his Tech career as a three-time team captain for the Hokies, while junior Jed Prater will join him for his first time in the role.
DON’T I KNOW YOU
• The center back pairing of DeVante DuBose and Drew Ranahan played high school soccer at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, Calif.
• Redshirt freshmen Hunter Byrnes and Drew Hartell were high school teammates at F.W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach. They also both played club soccer for Beach FC.
• Freshmen Kai Marshall and Shane Rose played for Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, Va., while also playing club soccer for SOCA Lightning.
• Despite going to high schools more than 300 miles apart, freshmen Hunter Jecius and Deven Mason played club soccer together for New Mexico Rush Nike Argonauts ‘94 which is located in Albuquerque, N.M.
• Freshmen Daniel Lauretano and Carter Brown played club soccer together for Richmond Kickers Academy.