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Women's Soccer

Tech falters in ACC Quarterfinal at North Carolina

CARY, N.C. – In the quarterfinals of the 2018 ACC Women's Soccer Championship, the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels, also the top seed in the tournament, scored 2:20 into the action and with 1:20 left in the match to register a 2-0 win on Sunday afternoon at Koka Booth Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.
 
Early in the contest, Alex Kimball took a through ball and was one-on-one with Tech goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn. Kimball shot and McGlynn made the initial save, but could not control the rebound. Kimball regrouped and shot the ball into the back of the net to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead.
 
It would be the lone goal allowed by McGlynn over the next 86 minutes, as she helped keep the Hokies at the one-goal deficit despite facing a total of 20 shots and collecting eight saves. With those, McGlynn went over 200 career saves in her Tech career – ending the afternoon with 206.
 
North Carolina (16-2-1), though, made Tech pay late as the Hokies were pushing forward for an equalizer. Dorian Bailey intercepted a pass, then dribbled on goal – again one-on-one with McGlynn – and pushed it past her to secure the victory.
 
Tech (9-7-3) managed just three shots in the contest, none on goal, and is knocked out of the ACC tournament. The Hokies will await their NCAA postseason fate, which they'll find out during the NCAA selection show held on Monday, Nov. 5.

FROM COACH ADAIR
"I was disappointed with our start today. I think we were a little bit in awe of the event and didn't come out and show some experience about being in the ACC tournament. We started slow and obviously gave up that goal in the first few minutes of the game, which made it very difficult for us to come back. Carolina is a good team. They are very well-balanced, very athletic and dangerous, but giving them that opportunity early on, they got their chance and put it away which made the rest of the day hard. I thought we played better in the second half. We were able to control a little more of the tempo. Frustrated in the day that we couldn't get the tying goal back, and then, gave up that late one as we were trying to push it up at the end. Pleased with the group overall on the season. We were dealing with a lot of injuries throughout the year. We had our ups and downs, but that's playing in the ACC and team did a wonderful job fighting through it. Looking forward to, and hoping the NCAA committee sees it the way we do, that we deserve to be in NCAA tournament. "

OF NOTE

  • This was the 18th all-time meeting between the two programs and North Carolina improved to 16-2-0 in those matches.
  • This season in Tech matches, the team that scores the first goal is 16-0-1.
  • The Hokies are now 3-6-2 in six ACC postseason tournaments, 0-3 against the Tar Heels.
  • The eight saves for McGlynn are the most in a 90-minute match for a Tech goalkeeper in an ACC tournament game. The previous high was seven by Kristin Carden in the 2008 ACC Championship Game against North Carolina (a 3-0 loss). She also made nine saves against Virginia in that year's semifinal – in 110 minutes, seven in regulation and two in overtime.
  • Jaylyn Thompson started her 47th straight match for Tech, the longest consecutive streak on the team, while McGlynn has the second longest at 38.
  • Two Hokies have played all 1,770 minutes of the season: McGlynn and Kelsey Irwin.
  • Five Hokies have started all 18 matches this year: the two above, Gray, Hemmen and Thompson. 

UP NEXT
If the Hokies qualify, a first-round match in the NCAA Championship the weekend of November 9-10.