Second-Half Surge Lifts Virginia Tech Women's Soccer to Season-Opening Win Over High Point

Behind a second-half brace from Taylor Price, Virginia Tech women's soccer kicked off its season in emphatic fashion.

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech women's soccer kicked off its 2025 campaign with an emphatic victory over High Point yesterday. The Hokies (1-0-0), who made it to the NCAA quarterfinals a season ago, stifled the Panthers (0-1-0), 2-0. With the win, Tech claimed its ninth straight victory over High Point and won its fifth straight season opener.

The high press was a driving force behind Virginia Tech’s early attack. Twice in the opening 22 minutes, High Point goalkeeper Aubrey McKessy, the 2025 Big South Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year, cut off dangerous attempts before a Hokie forward could pounce for a clear scoring chance. With 23:07 left in the half, Taylor Price found space right near the goal and unleashed a shot that curled just wide of the right post, keeping the Panthers level.

With just over a minute remaining in the first half, High Point found itself with a breakaway opportunity, but Tech's suffocating defense forced a cross to the right side of the field that was intercepted by a Hokie and resulted in no score.

Though the score remained deadlocked at zero until halftime, it wouldn't stay that way for long. Price, who tallied the second-most points (14) on the team last year and the most goals (6), notched her first goal of the game four minutes into the second frame, drilling a low-liner into the bottom left corner to put the Hokies up one. The shot came amid a kerfuffle that saw McKessy collide with teammate Kasey Resker; Price came up first and cranked the ball into the empty net.

first Hokie goal of the season by none other than @taylor_price17‼️

Hokies 1, Panthers 0#Hokies pic.twitter.com/hCGjgP0dYp

— Virginia Tech Women's Soccer (@HokiesWSoccer) August 15, 2025

Two and a half minutes later, Price scored again, recording her fifth-game winning goal of the last two years with a header into the high-left corner off an assist from Ellie Robertson. The two-goal output marked Price's second brace of her career and the latter score marked Robertson's first career assist.

"So, yeah, extremely proud of the girls," said Virginia Tech head coach Charles "Chugger" Adair. "I thought we did a good job tonight. A little bit slow start the first half. We were good in possession and moved the ball fairly well the first half, but weren't really as dangerous as we wanted to be. We talked about having a little bit more of a tempo in the attacking third, a little bit more aggression in the final third, and it showed in in the second half."

After halftime, the Hokies’ attack shifted into overdrive, unleashing 18 shots while holding High Point to just one attempt. Panther goalkeeper Aubrey McKessy turned away 11 of those chances with an active second-half performance, but she couldn’t keep Price from finding the back of the net twice. By the final whistle, Virginia Tech outshot High Point 28-4, a lopsided tally that reflected the sustained offensive pressure the Hokies applied over the last 45 minutes. In addition, Tech tallied 11 corner kicks in the contest to the Panthers' one.

"28 shots on that we had tonight was great," Adair said. "We forced 11 saves from their goalkeeper tonight in the second half. So, really intentional in the attack in the second half and proud of the team. Their goalkeeper played tremendous to make the saves that she made uh to keep the score pretty close. But hats off to Taylor Price, welcome her back with a couple goals. We're extremely happy for her. Pleased with the overall result, the W, a road shutout and our first win of the season. So we're excited. Just got to get back and get ready for VCU on Sunday. But proud of the team tonight."

Though High Point historically has not matched up well against Tech — the Hokies now lead the all-time series by a convincing 9-0-0 margin — the Panthers entered the contest ranked as the No. 2 team in the Big South's preseason poll, one point behind defending conference champions USC Upstate. Meanwhile, Tech came into Wednesday ranked as the No. 14 team in the nation and No. 7 in the ACC, a perennial powerhouse in women's soccer. Five ACC squads rank among the nation's top seven and the top four spots in the national rankings are all occupied by the ACC.

While High Point showed flashes of why it’s a Big South contender, Tech’s ACC-tested depth — only three Hokie players suited up for the full 90 minutes — proved decisive, extending its dominance in the series.

The Hokies now have a three-day break before returning home to Blacksburg on Sunday, Aug. 17 to host fellow in-state foe VCU at 5 p.m. ET. After that, Tech will play its first ACC contest of the season on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. ET, hosting the Clemson Tigers. Both games will be available for viewing on the ACC Network Extra.