Larry French

Women's Soccer 8/28/2024 4:17:00 PM

Non-Conference Play Continues for Women's Soccer Thursday at Virginia Tech

Match Information
Opponent	at Virginia Tech
Date	Thursday, August 29, 2024
Time	7:00 p.m.
Location	Blacksburg, VA l Thompson Field
Watch Live	ESPN+
Online Media	Live Stats
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Game Notes	Loyola Women's Soccer Game Notes (PDF)

The Matchup

The Greyhounds will continue non-conference play as they hit the road as they face ACC foe Virginia Tech.
This will be the fourth matchup between the two programs, and the first matchup since the 2011 season. The Hokies hold the series edge, 2-0-1.

Quick Hits

Baylee DeSmit is coming off of a big 2023 season, where she was named as the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year.
DeSmit led the league in goals (10) and points (28), while finishing in second with 8 assists.
The Greyhounds lost five starters from last years team, including First Team All-League selection Alex Searing. They also lost Paige Sim, Chloe Kuminkoski, Delaney DeMartino, and Kelly Hutton.
However, the Greyhounds will return a big portion of their roster, as they return 18 players from the 2024 roster.

Greyhounds at Home

The Greyhounds were dominant at home during the 2023 season, tallying a 9-2 record at Ridley last season.
Over the last four seasons, Loyola has a 19-11-5 record at home, and are 3-2 in their last five home openers.
Last season the Greyhounds outscored their opponents 22-5 in their 11 home games. This includes outscoring their opponents 19-2 in their seven-game home win streak.
Nine wins at home is tied for the second most wins at home in a single-season, tying with 2005 when they finished 9-0 at home. The most wins at home came in 1996 when the Greyhounds went 11-0-1 at home.

Non-Conference Play

The Greyhounds start the season against Dayton, who finished the season 13-2-5 on the season before losing in the A-10 Semifinals to La Salle.
Loyola will then hit the road to face Longwood on Sunday, before returning home to play George Washington on August 22.
On August 29 Loyola heads down to Blacksburg to face the Virginia Tech Hokies, before starting a five-game homestand against Northern Colorado on September 1.
Of their non-conference opponents, Loyola only played Dayton and Longwood last season, going 1-1 in those games.
Loyola will matchup for the first time against Northern Colorado and Wagner this season, having played against the other non-conferece foes at least once.
Baylee DeSmit will look to continue her fast start to seasons, as she has scored a goal in each of the last two season openers.
In seven non-conference games in 2023, Loyola shutout their opponents in four of those games.

Scouting Virginia Tech

The Hokies come into the matchup with a 3-0-1 record on the season, with the lone tie coming against Monmouth.
So far through four games, the Hokies have had eight different goal scorers this season, with none of them scoring more than one goal.
Likewise, 10 different players have an assist this season, but nobody has more than one.
Lauren Hargrove has started in all four games this season, tallying five saves, a .833 save percentage, and a 0.29 goals against average. Through four games, she has only faced 15 shots.
In the ACC Preseason Poll, Virginia Tech was picked to finish in 10th place, receiving 116 points in the poll.
Quick Notes
The 2024 season will be the 14th season the Greyhounds have been in the Patriot League, going 31-43-22 during that span, reaching the Patriot League Championships in five straight seasons, which includes two trips to the Patriot League Semifinals.
This is Head Coach Joe Mallia's second stint at the helm with the Greyhounds. During his first stint, Mallia went 87-45-9 (54-4-5, MAAC), Winning the MAAC Regular-Season Championship four times, and the MAAC Tournament Championship three times.
In his four season's back at the helm, Mallia has gone 35-28-14.
The Greyhounds have gone 61-44-18 at home since the opening of Ridley Athletic Complex.
Dating back to the beginning of the 2022 season, the Greyhounds have recorded 19 shutouts in 37 games.

Recipe for Success

The Greyhounds recorded a shutout in 8 of their 11 wins during the 2023 season.
Ten different players scored a goal duirng the season, contributing to a balanced scoring effort, as Baylee DeSmit led the team with ten goals.
The Greyhounds have won 22 of the last 25 games in which they have scored two goals or more, which dates back to Sept. 6, 2018. Loyola was 8-0-0 when scoring multiple goals last season.
The Greyhounds are 24-2-3 when scoring first and 18-1-1 when leading at halftime since the beginning of the 2021 season.
Since the beginning of the 2022 season, the Greyhounds are 1-12-0 when their opponent scored first.

Players Mentioned