College notebook: Virginia Tech Hokies prepare for soccer showdown

Although ESPN won’t be bringing its Thursday night road show to Lane Stadium this season, sports fans won’t lack for entertainment on that night.

Two nationally ranked women’s soccer teams will square off at 7 this evening at Thompson Field, where No. 1-ranked North Carolina faces Virginia Tech, which cracked the Top 25 for the first time this season at No. 22.

Chances are, the Tar Heels and 35th-year head coach Anson Dorrance won’t be taking the Hokies lightly. Tech beat then-No. 1 North Carolina 1-0 in Blacksburg in 2009, then won by the same margin against an eighth-ranked Tar Heels squad in 2011.

Those are the only times Tech has beaten Carolina in 11 meetings.

The Tar Heels have won their first six games this year by a combined 16-3 margin. Outside of a 1-1 tie with Louisville, the Hokies (5-0-1) have not won a game by fewer than two goals.

Tech’s leading scorers, each with five goals and two assists, are sophomore midfielder Ashley Meier and freshman forward Murielle Tiernan .

Meier was the Hokies’ leading scorer (eight goals, three assists) and was an ACC All-Freshman choice in 2012. Tiernan, a graduate of Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, was the two-time Washington Post Metro player of the year.

Moreover, Tiernan has continued to perform at a high level despite being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a lung condition that limited her minutes in high school.

Tiernan has averaged just under 45 minutes — roughly half a game — but third-year coach Chugger Adair said there has been no effort to limit her minutes.

“We’re watching her,” Adair said, “but, when she’s been out of the game, it’s mostly been a case of balancing minutes between our forwards.

“She communicates with the trainer but [Tiernan] had her own system for dealing with this before she got here. To watch her, you’d never guess that she has cystic fibrosis.”

By the numbers

Boston College, ranked 83rd in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense, is one of seven ACC teams ranked among the nation’s bottom 41 (Nos. 83-123) in that category. Trailing the Eagles are No. 85 Miami, No. 91 Syracuse, No. 96 Virginia Tech, No. 97 Wake Forest, No. 107 Pittsburgh and No. 115 Virginia.

•  One area in which there’s room for improvement for both Tech and UVa is kickoff returns. The Cavaliers, averaging 18.17 yards per return, are 99th in that category. The Hokies are 116th at 16.13 yards.

If teams choose not to bring kickoffs out of the end zone, they are awarded possession at their 25.

Not again

After lightning caused a two-hour, nine-minute delay in its opener Aug. 31 at Virginia, Brigham Young had to wait out a one-hour, 52-minute delay in the kickoff time for its home opener Saturday against Texas. However, it’s a safe bet that BYU won’t be sitting around for a third week. The Cougars are off this week.

Connection

Former Virginia quarterback Ross Metheny was named Sun Belt Conference player of the week after he passed for 290 yards and rushed for 75 yards in a 41-39 South Alabama victory at Tulane. Metheny set a school record when he accounted for four touchdowns — two rushing, two passing. USA is in its fifth season of varsity play.

Basketball recruiting

Notre Dame has taken an oral commitment from 6-9 Lithuanian Martin Geben, who did not take a visit to Charlottesville scheduled for this past weekend. Geben plays at St. Maria Goretti in Hagerstown, Md.

•  Three-point specialist Taylor Barnette , who requested a release after his freshman year at Virginia, has enrolled at Belmont in Nashville, Tenn. Belmont, which won 26 games this past season, plays in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Local update

One-time Cave Spring floor leader and Virginia Tech graduate Greg Mackey has joined the men’s basketball staff at North Carolina-Charlotte as a graduate assistant. Mackey was the team manager under former Virginia Tech men’s coach Seth Greenberg and was recommended by Greenberg to a UNC-C staff that includes ex-Hokies aide Ryan Odom .

•  Former Giles High School tennis player Tim Dunford is the new men’s tennis coach at the College of Wooster (Ohio). Dunford, who succeeds 34-year-head coach Hayden Schilling , most recently was the men’s and women’s coach at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa.

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