Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech midfielder Kelly Conheeney (left) against UNC Greensboro at Thompson Field.

BLACKSBURG -- November 4 was a great day for Virginia Tech women's soccer player Kelly Conheeney.

That afternoon, the Ridgewood, N.J., native scored in overtime to give the Hokies a 1-0 win over Wake Forest in an ACC tournament quarterfinal.

That night, her beloved New York Yankees won the World Series.

"I couldn't fall asleep that night. That was so much fun," Conheeney said.

Conheeney, a freshman midfielder who grew up about 30 minutes from New York City, originally had not thought about attending Virginia Tech because it was "so far away."

A recruiting pitch from coach Kelly Cagle and a visit to the campus won her over.

Good thing for the Hokies.

Conheeney has a team-high 19 points for Virginia Tech (14-7), which is one of the top 12 overall seeds in the 64-team NCAA tournament. She shares the Tech lead in goals (eight) with Cave Spring graduate Jennifer Harvey.

The 5-foot-5 Conheeney made the ACC all-freshman team and the ACC all-tournament team.

"She's probably one of the best two-way midfielders we've had, just in terms of [as a] defender and an attacking presence," Cagle said. "A lot of midfielders don't make the commitment to get themselves in front of the goal. "She's technically one of the best players on the team with both feet."

Conheeney has played a variety of sports, but soccer is her favorite.

"It's so creative, and it's so much harder than everything else," she said. "You can't just walk on a soccer field and be like, 'I can do this.' ... I can pick up a basketball and start shooting."

Conheeney orally committed to the Hokies in the spring of her junior year, after also visiting Virginia and Rutgers.

"I knew she was going to be one of the best all-around soccer players we've had," Cagle said. "We knew that she was going to come in and make an immediate impact."

Conheeney was one of two players on her club team in New Jersey who joined the Hokies, along with freshman Shannon Mayrose, who has been sidelined by a knee injury this year.

Conheeney has enjoyed her first fall in Virginia.

"I love it here," she said. "It's definitely different than New Jersey, but in a good way. ... People down South are really friendly."

It didn't take long for Conheeney to make an impact at Tech. She scored the team's first goal of the season, in the opener against High Point.

But her favorite goal of the season came in the ACC tournament against then-No. 10 Wake Forest.

She was supposed to make a corner kick early in overtime, but she begged off because she wanted a chance to score.

"I just remember standing outside the box and being like, 'I'm putting this ball in the net,' " she said.

The ball came her way, and she chested it to the ground and shot it with her left foot. The goal gave Tech its fourth win over a ranked foe this year, including last month's upset of then-No. 1 North Carolina, and its first postseason victory in five years.

"I've always loved to go to the goal and attack," she said.

The third-seeded Hokies, in the NCAA field for the second straight year, will face Murray State (11-8-2) at 5 p.m. Friday at the University of Dayton. If they win, the Hokies will face Dayton (16-0-5) or Marquette (15-5-2) in Sunday's second round at Dayton.

Tech is ranked 17th in this week's national coaches Top 25 poll, with Dayton No. 23 and Marquette No. 25.

NCAA tournament committee chairman Paul Bradshaw said Tech was not chosen to host this weekend because the committee wanted to limit travel costs and plane flights. He said Dayton was preferable because none of the teams will have to fly there.

Conheeney will be one of two members of her family playing in an NCAA soccer tournament this weekend. Her older sister Megan has scored four goals this year for Christopher Newport, which will visit Washington and Lee in the Division III tournament Saturday. Kelly Conheeney was in the stands in Martinsville last weekend to watch CNU win the USA South tournament.

Conheeney is part of a Tech offense that Cagle considers the most dangerous and athletic she has ever had. Other weapons include Harvey; All-ACC second-team pick Marika Gray (seven goals); and Julian Johnson, the program's career assists leader.

Cagle said Conheeney is a tireless worker.

"She almost works herself into the ground sometimes," Cagle said. "But that's a good problem to have."