2020 Virginia Tech Hokies men's soccer team

The 2020 Virginia Tech Hokies men's soccer team represented Virginia Tech during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. It was the 49th season of the University fielding a program. The Hokies played their home games at Sandra D. Thompson Field in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Hokies were led by twelfth-year head coach Mike Brizendine.

2020 Virginia Tech Hokies men's soccer
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 4
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 11
2020 record	3–2–2 (3–1–2 ACC)
Head coach	Mike Brizendine (12th season)
Assistant coaches	Patrick McSorley (11th season) Josh Dunn (2nd season)
Home stadium	Thompson Field

2020 ACC men's soccer standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
North
No. 2 Pittsburgh	4	–	0	–	0			7	–	1	–	0
No. 4 Virginia Tech	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
Notre Dame	3	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Virginia	2	–	3	–	1			3	–	4	–	1
Louisville	1	–	4	–	1			1	–	6	–	1
Syracuse	0	–	3	–	2			0	–	3	–	2
South
No. 3 Wake Forest	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
North Carolina	3	–	1	–	2			3	–	2	–	2
No. 1 Clemson‡	3	–	2	–	1			8	–	2	–	1
Duke	2	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
NC State	0	–	5	–	1			0	–	6	–	1
Boston College†			–							–
‡ – 2020 ACC Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2020 NCAA Tournament As of November 24, 2020; Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source:The ACC Note: † Due to COVID-19, Boston College has suspended the 2020 men's soccer season.

The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed the fall season and caused the NCAA Tournament to be played in Spring 2021. The ACC was one of the only two conferences in men's soccer to play in the fall of 2020. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021.

Previous season

The 2019 Virginia Tech men's soccer team finished the season with a 10–6–3 overall record and a 2–4–2 ACC record. The Hokies were seeded eleventh–overall in the 2019 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The Hokies won their first round match up against Louisville, but fell to Wake Forest in the quarterfinals. The Hokies earned an at-large bid into the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. As the tenth overall seed Virginia Tech defeated New Hampshire in the second round, before losing to Stanford in the third round.

Preseason

Players leaving

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Will Mejia	2	DF	6'2"	Senior	Falls Church, VA	Graduated
Jon Ingason	5	DF	6'1"	Senior	Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland	Graduated
Brendan Moyers	6	FW	6'0"	Senior	Earlysville, VA	Graduated
James Kasak	8	FW	5'9"	Senior	Stuarts Draft, VA	Declared for 2020 MLS SuperDraft, drafted 84th overall by Sporting Kansas City
Nikal Clarke-Smith	13	DF	6'2"	Senior	Toronto, Canada	Graduated
Marc Hoppler	17	DF	6'0"	Senior	Lucerne, Switzerland	Graduated

Players arriving

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Emmanuel Ameres MF	USA	Palmetto, FL	Clearwater Chargers	[1]
Welnilton Da Silva DF	BRA	Para, Brazil	SIMA	[2]
Jack Dearie DF	USA	Ponta Vedra Beach, FL	Beachside Academy	[3]
Cameron Joice FW	AUS	Newcastle, Australia	Lake Ginninderra Secondary College	[4]
Oryem Kilama FW	USA	Wilmington, DE	Delaware FC	[5]
Ethan Stevenson FW	USA	Clover, SC	Charlotte Independence SC	[6]

Transfers

Name	Nat.	No.	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Notes
Mayola Kinua	GHA	8	MF	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Sophomore	Elk Creek, VA	Transferred from Appalachian State

ACC Media Poll

The ACC men's soccer media poll was released on September 8, 2020. Virginia Tech was picked to finish third in the ACC North Division.[7]

Coaches' Poll
Predicted finish	Team	Points
1	Virginia	59 (9)
2	Pitt	44 (2)
3	Virginia Tech	35
4	Syracuse	30
5	Louisville	29
6	Notre Dame	28

Preseason honors and awards

All-ACC Preseason Team

• Kristo Strickler, Senior, Forward

Squad

Roster

Updated: December 10, 2020[8]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK  USA Connor Jordan-Hyde 1 GK  NED Mathijs Swaneveld 2 DF  USA Jack Dearie 3 DF  NOR Sivert Haugli 4 MF  USA Kyle Stenzel 5 DF  BRA Welnilton da Silva II 6 MF  AUS Camron Joice 7 FW  USA Oreyem Kilama 8 MF  GHA Mayola Kinyua 9 MF  VEN Daniel Pereira 10 MF  USA Chris Little 11 FW  USA Daniel Starr 12 MF  USA Andrew Weber 14 FW  USA Kahlil Dover 15 MF  USA Kristo Strickler

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  ISL Birkir Eythorsson 17 FW  USA Nick Backlock 18 FW  USA Jacob Labovitz 19 DF  USA Nathan Durst 20 MF  USA Landon Ameres 21 MF  USA Camron Lennon 22 DF  USA Mason McClendon 23 DF  USA J.P. Pascarella 24 MF  ENG Kyle McDowell 25 GK  USA Matt Zambetti 26 DF  USA Chris Nicola 27 GK  USA Hayden Kickbush 28 DF  USA Zane Bubb 30 FW  GHA Alex Adjetey 31 FW  GER Jakob Bluemler

Team management

Position	Staff
Athletic Director	Whit Babcock
Head Coach	Mike Brizendine
Assistant Coach	Patrick McSorley
Assistant Coach	Josh Dunn

Schedule

Source:[9][10]

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Fall Regular season
October 10, 2020 7:00 p.m.		at No. 2 Pittsburgh	L 2–4	0–1–0 (0–1–0)	Ambrose Urbanic Field (55) Pittsburgh, PA
October 14, 2020 6:00 p.m.		No. 5 Virginia Commonwealth Clash	T 1–1 ^2OT	0–1–1 (0–1–1)	Thompson Field (130) Blacksburg, VA
October 24, 2020 6:30 p.m.		Syracuse	T 1–1 ^2OT	0–1–2 (0–1–2)	Thompson Field (101) Blacksburg, VA
October 30, 2020 7:00 p.m.		at Louisville	W 2–1 ^OT	1–1–2 (1–1–2)	Lynn Stadium (212) Louisville, KY
November 2, 2020 1:00 p.m.		Notre Dame	W 1–0	2–1–2 (2–1–2)	Alumni Stadium (0) South Bend, IN
November 6, 2020 7:00 p.m.		Virginia Commonwealth Clash	W 1–0	3–1–2 (3–1–2)	Klöckner Stadium Charlottesville, VA
ACC Tournament
November 15, 2020 Noon	(N2) No. 5	vs. (S3) No. 4 Clemson Quarterfinals	L 1–4	3–2–2	Koskinen Stadium Durham, NC
Spring Exhibition
February 19, 2021 5:00 p.m.		at VCU			Sports Backers Stadium Richmond, VA
February 22, 2021 2:00 p.m.		at Virginia Commonwealth Clash			Klöckner Stadium Charlottesville, VA
Spring Regular season
February 28, 2021 1:00 p.m.		at Coastal Carolina			CCU Soccer Field Conway, SC
March 6, 2021 1:00 p.m.		Duke			Thompson Field Blacksburg, VA
March 13, 2021 5:00 p.m.		Clemson			Thompson Field Blacksburg, VA
March 19, 2021 2:00 p.m.		at Virginia Commonwealth Clash			Klöckner Stadium Charlottesville, VA
March 27, 2021 1:00 p.m.		Pittsburgh			Thompson Field Blacksburg, VA
April 2, 2021 7:00 p.m.		at North Carolina			Dorrance Field Chapel Hill, NC
April 9, 2021 7:00 p.m.		at Notre Dame			Alumni Stadium South Bend, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Honors and awards

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Jacob Labovitz	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	November 2, 2020	[11]
Kristo Strickler	MAC Hermann Trophy Watchlist	January 28, 2021	[12]

Rankings

Fall 2020

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes.

Poll	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Final
United Soccer[13]								5		4

Spring 2021

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Others receiving votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Final
United Soccer[13]														None Released
TopDrawer Soccer [14]	11

2021 MLS SuperDraft

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position
Daniel Pereira	Austin FC	1	1	MF
Kristofer Strickler	Houston Dynamo	2	30	FW

Source:[15]

References

1. "Emmanuel Ameres". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
2. "Welnilton Da Silva". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
3. "Jack Dearie". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
4. "Cameron Joice". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
5. "Oryem Kilama". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
6. "Ethan Stevenson". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
7. "Virginia Picked to Win ACC North Region". virginiasports.com. September 8, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
8. "2020 Men's Soccer Roster". hokiesports.com. Virginia Tech Athletics. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
9. "2020 Men's Soccer Schedule". hokiesports.com. Virginia Tech Athletics. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
10. "Spring schedule set for Hokies". hokiesports.com. Virginia Tech Athletics. January 27, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
11. "VT's Labovitz, Wake's Benalcazar Earn ACC Men's Soccer Weekly Honors". theacc.com. The Atlantic Coast Conference. November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
12. "2020-21 MAC Hermann Trophy Watch Lists Announced". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. January 28, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
13. "NCAA DI Men's National Rankings". National Soccer Coaches Association of America. November 24, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
14. "College Soccer National Rankings". TopDrawer Soccer. February 1, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
15. "2021 MLS SuperDraft Tracker". MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved January 22, 2021.

External links

• Virginia Tech Men's Soccer

{{2020–21 NCAA Division I men's soccer season}}