Virginia Tech came back from a 1-0 deficit to topple Pitt 2-1 thanks to second-half goals from the freshman duo of Celine Kampmann and Riley Karpinski.
The first half was practically all Pitt but with no goals to show for it. This is evident in the 7 first-half shots the Panthers took and 4 saves in rebuttal from Julianna Trujillo, a performance which helped keep this game alive for the Hokies. Thankfully Virginia Tech was able to survive the first half onslaught and go into halftime level at 0-0.
To start the second half the Hokies came out swinging, eventually leading the half in shots 10-7. Within the first ten minutes, they created three opportunities that couldn't make it into the back of the net. Then disaster struck, as Virginia Tech lost the ball off a throw-in in Pitt's own half, with the Panthers then using that possession to create a fast break opportunity, leading to Sofia Doheny's goal to put Pitt up 1-0.
It seemed like all that momentum the Lady Hokies created would be snuffed, but a response would come less than three minutes later. After two corner kicks, the ball was finally in the back of Pitt's net thanks to Celine Kampmann's header off a beautifully bent cross from Bella Ganiere. It's no surprise a goal off a corner was scored, as Virginia Tech would end up having 10 corner kicks in this game after averaging 6.8 corner kicks a game, with 8 of them on this occasion coming from the second half of play.
Now at 1-1, the momentum had definitely shifted away from the Panthers who were now facing opportunity after opportunity in between their own posts. Then seemingly out of nowhere in the 77th minute, Riley Karpinski received the ball at the upper right of Pitt's box and delivered a curled banger into the far corner to put Virginia Tech up 2-1. This gave her a third goal on the season, now tied for second most on the squad.
Only two minutes after Riley Karpinski's moment of individual brilliance drama ensued, as Julia Tepes made a slide tackle in the Hokie's own box that came in late. This led to a video review, with the result of this game seemingly hanging on this call. To Pitt's demise, no penalty was called as the ball was cleared before the attacker ever tripped over the tackle. From there it was smooth sailing, as Virginia Tech was able to leave Ambrose Urbanic Field with another point in the win column.
After this result, Virginia Tech sits with a record of 5-1-3 overall and 1-0 in the ACC. In their next conference game they'll visit Syracuse in upstate New York at 12 pm EST on Sunday, September 20th. The Hokies will look to get another win there as the Orange are already 0-2 against their fellow ACC foes.
