Notre Dame Handles Virginia Tech Women's Soccer, Cruises to 5-0 Victory

The Hokies have not won since Aug. 31.

Freshman Hannah Pachan delivers a set piece kick. | Virginia Tech Athletics.

From whistle to whistle, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish controlled the Hokies, finishing the conference contest with a final score of 5-0.

FINAL: Hokies 0, No. 1 Fighting Irish 5#Hokies pic.twitter.com/HXH8sA6fwq

— Virginia Tech Women's Soccer (@HokiesWSoccer) October 24, 2025

A pesky five-defender look from Notre Dame (13-0-1, 8-0-0 ACC) was the defensive position that snuffed the Hokies (4-10-3, 0-8-1) for 90 minutes.

"They get their wing backs forward, so there's three [defenders] at times," said Tech head coach Charles "Chugger" Adair. "If you can get an attack quickly, you can expose that. But we didn't do that good enough tonight."

As the Hokies started the matchup with possession, they looked to strike quickly against the Fighting Irish. In the second minute, a corner kick sailed over the box off the foot of freshman Hannah Pachan, off the head of Ella Valente, unable to find the back of the net.

Notre Dame's two-striker pair of Izzy Engle and Annabelle Chukwu looked for the go-ahead finish early. A breakaway in the 16th minute saw Engle dribbling the ball downfield at a full pace, rolling the ball forward into the box to Chukwu. Two step overs, a nudge to her right, and Chukwu had a wide open look, slamming the ball past Lauren Hargrove for the opening score.

"We started the game well on both halves, and then we just didn't do that," Adair said. "Then when moments don't happen for us, we've got to be resilient and try to be strong through those."

Engle returned the favor for herself just seven minutes following her assist. As she dribbled her way into Tech's box, Engle was surrounded by the gray jerseys of the Hokies, forcing her to slide and shoot simultaneously, squeezing the goal both past the defense and Hargrove.

The relentless attack from Notre Dame did not let up. A minute later, in the 24th, Chukwu drew a penalty off freshman Madi Boutot, placing the NCAA's second leading goal scorer Engle in the arc.

Both Engle and Hargrove knew Engle's intentions, a hard finish to the left. Hargrove sold out left, where she made the first break, a small jump to reposition herself closer to the sidebar. Engle still powered the penalty past Hargrove for the final score of the first half as the Fighting Irish jumped out ahead, 3-0.

The Hokies, in the first, looked to capitalize on the positioning mistakes of Notre Dame. Lob passes over the midfield attempted to press the Fighting Irish defense with a numbers advantage, but it appeared that the completion was never there in the first, leaving Tech without a shot on goal.

In the first half, Hargrove surpassed the career 5,000-minute mark, becoming the fourth goalkeeper to do so in program history.

"We're proud of her [Hargrove], we're really happy she's with us for a fifth year," said Adair. "She's been a tremendous person in our program, not only just on the field, but off the field, and for the group as well. She's earned those minutes."

A grounded attacking scheme in the second half for the Hokies was more effective in pushing towards the box and forcing scoring opportunities. But it was Notre Dame who scored all of the goals in the second half.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, junior midfielder Charlie Codd pushed up the left of the pitch, curling a through pass behind the defense in for Engle, timing her pursuit perfectly to avoid the offside flag and finishing the touch to complete her hat trick, her first of the 2025 campaign.

Notre Dame midfielder Morgan Ray wanted to get the central attack into the scoring action. As Ray pushed the ball towards the box, separation formed. Almost as if in stride, an odd, quick strike sent the ball on a line to the back of the cage, capping off the scoring, 5-0.

"They're a good side, they were clinical in their finishing," Adair said. " We did some good things tonight, but not enough consistently throughout the game, [we] didn't deal with their forwards as well as we'd like."

Tech's final regular-season contest keeps them in Blacksburg, a matchup against the Miami Hurricanes on October 30 at 7 p.m. ET. Coverage will be available on the ACC Network.