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October 22, 2019
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JENS SCHLUETER / TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE People mourn whilst taking part in a human chain around the Jewish synagogue during the Sabbath celebrations two days after a shooting left two people dead on Oct. 11, 2019, in Halle, Germany. (Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)
your views [letter to the editor]
LTE: Virginia Tech’s Jewish leaders support Halle, Germany, in time of tragedy and strive for harmony in our own community
D
ear Virginia Tech: We stand with the Jewish community of Halle, Germany, who suffered great loss at the hands of a shooting at its synagogue during Yom Kippur
with Halle’s small Jewish community. T he shooter livestreamed this video online and garnered thousands of views while committing this heinous act. As Hokies, we are not content to watch from the side-
at Virginia Tech feel safe, secure and at home here on campus. Our future is as promising as our past is proud. We will continue to be a strong community across generations, time and thousands of miles. It is those qualities of the
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. ”
— a holiday steeped in atonement and reflection upon wrongdoings in the world. Among those inside the synagogue were 20 Hillel participants and three professionals from Hillel Germany: Base Berlin, who had traveled to Halle for a day of seminars and prayers and to connect
lines while others are in need of our help, nor are we content with the recollections of the past when we face the responsibilities of the present. “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” - Elie Wiesel It is our goal to make sure Jewish students here
Elie Wiesel holocaust survivor
Jewish community: the combination of hope, resilience and kindness that is needed more than ever today. As a community, we mourn the death of the two innocent souls murdered in Halle and pray that their memory will be a blessing. At the same time,
Voice your opinion. Send letters to the Collegiate Times. All letters must include a name and phone number. Students 365 Squires Student Center must include year and major. Faculty and staff must include Blacksburg, VA, 24061 position and department. Other submissions must include opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com city of residence and relationship to Virginia Tech (i.e., alumni, parent, etc.). We reserve the right to edit for any reason. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Letters, commentaries and editorial cartoons do not reflect the views of the Collegiate Times. Editorials are written by the Collegiate Times editorial board, which is composed of the opinions editors, editor in chief and managing editors.
we recommit ourselves to combatting the evils of anti-Semitism everywhere to ensure safety and security for the entire Jewish community. We ask that students, faculty and staff reflect on the value of diversity, remember their commitment to the Virginia Tech Principles of Community and reject
hatred in all its pervasive forms. We must speak up and embrace people from all backgrounds to best fulfill Tikkun Olam — repairing the world. With hope,
Jackson Ribler Co-President for Advocacy, JSU Leor Clark
President, Hillel at VT Eric Herwitz President, Chabad at VT Mitchell Gerhardt Vice President, Hillel at VT Victoria Dashevsky President, Friends of Israel at VT
COLLEGIATE TIMES NEWSROOM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231-9865 Editor-in-Chief: Ashley Long (editor@collegiatetimes.com) Managing editors: Emily Hannah and Isabella Rossi Design editors: Celina Ng and Heather Trobridge Copy editors: John McBride and Tori Walker News editor: Tahreem Alam Lifestyles editors: Emily Carter and Breanna Knotts Sports editors: Davis Carbaugh and Robby Fletcher Assistant sports editor: Claire Castagno Opinions editors: Donya Momenian and Lexi Solomon
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The Collegiate Times, a division of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, was established in 1903 by and for the students of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The Collegiate Times is published every Tuesday of the academic year except during exams and vacations. To order a reprint of a photograph printed in the Collegiate Times, visit reprints.collegemedia.com. The Collegiate Times is a division of the Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to provide educational experience in business and production of mass media for Virginia Tech students. © Collegiate Times, 2019. All rights reserved. Material published in the Collegiate Times is the property thereof, and may not be reprinted without the express written consent of the Collegiate Times.
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news
October 22, 2019 PAGE 3
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Drone delivery service launches in Christiansburg Alphabet’s Wing company delivered three packages during the first commercial drone delivery service flight in the nation. ADIAH GHOLSTON news staff writer
In front of a residential house in Christiansburg, a 10-pound drone hovers above a crowd to deliver one of the first commercial drone deliveries. On Friday, Oct. 18, Wing Aviation drone delivery service held its grand opening in Christiansburg. “The Wing folks did a great job presenting it to the town administration,” said Christiansburg Mayor Michael Barber. “ We have a leisure group (of) Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Christiansburg (and) Montgomery County schools. They introduced it to us one morning, and all of the responds were really good.” As a part of Wing Aviation’s grand opening, Wing partnered with Fedex, Walgreens and local creamery Sugar Magnolia to deliver the first packages to three residents in Christiansburg. One of the three deliveries came from Sugar Magnolia, whose package consisted of chocolate balls and popcorn. The Walgreens
delivery contained cough medicine, and the delivery from FedEx contained a purple vest from Dick’s Sporting Goods. “It is incredible to know that you can get whatever you need to the front of your
Residents of Christiansburg will be able to order items through an app and have them delivered to their home between 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Deliveries will take around 10
“In terms of the ... scooters, you see
them introduced in cities and they don’t go well. This is a similar thing where we are going to be the forefront of ... drone-safe commercial airspace.
”
Tim Sands Virginia Tech President
lawn,” said Todd Joyce, a recipient of a Sugar Magnolia package from Wing. Walgreens has over 100 goods available for delivery, and Sugar Magnolia has a variety of treats available. If a package is under three pounds, then it is available for drone delivery through FedEx. This is available in the midst of a trial run happening in small parameter within Christiansburg.
minutes to come from Wing’s base, which is stationed by El Gran Rodeo and O’Charley’s Restaurant and Bar. Christiansburg is not the first place where Wing has run a trial run. Wing has conducted trial runs in Australia and Finland. Now, Wing regularly delivers and continues to expand in these countries. Residents of Christansburg can look to these overseas
cities as a layout of what their drone future might look like for them. Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, which has worked to improve and advance drone technology for the past five years, has acted as one of Wing’s major partners. The university has been a part of Wing’s efforts to make a medicine, Chipotle burrito and popsicle delivery over a populated area throughout the years to work out any kinks and learn how the drones work. “The technology is simple; it’s how do you create a safe environment,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “In terms of the micro-mobility and capabilities of scooters, you see them introduced in cities and they don’t go well. This is a similar thing where were we are going to be the forefront of what’s going to be drone-safe commercial airspace.”
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Virginia Tech Police Dept. hires new police chief William Babb assumed the position as police chief as former chief Kevin Foust moved to a new role in the department. ANISHA KOHLI news staff writer
William Babb, who has been a part of the Virginia Tech Police Department (VTPD) for the past four and a half years, officially assumed Kevin Foust’s former role as Virginia Tech chief of police and director of security at a pinning ceremony Oct. 2. In the midst of an initiative to unify the different security organizations on campus, former Virginia Tech Police Chief Foust has been given a position to oversee all these departments as the associate vice president for safety and security. Foust’s new position was created as a component of Senior Vice President Dwayne Pinkney’s plan to reorganize many of the university’s operations. Pinkney said his vision is for different divisions to be able to easily share resources and for many bureaucratic barriers in the chain of university governance to be eliminated.
COURTESY OF VT NEWS
Previously, the VTPD, Virginia Tech Emergency Management, Virginia Tech Health and Safety and the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad were all independent entities.
However, they now all have stronger access to collaboration, and they share the leadership of Foust. “It’s going to be interesting,” Foust said. “I
know what the VT Rescue Squad and police department do, but I’m not nearly as familiar with emergency management or health and safety. So, I’m getting caught up with each department’s day-to-day operations. After that, I want to let them soar and be successful because these three departments have excellent people working in them.” Foust and Babb both describe their transition of roles as seamless. Babb expressed how it was especially helpful for the transition that there was no role of interim chief. “Hopefully changes being made will be so seamless that they’ll go unnoticed by students and the community,” Foust said. In addition, both Foust and Babb have personal goals that they plan to work toward within their new roles. Foust explained his excitement for the potential the new technology has in aiding security and leveraging this to see what sort VTPD / page 4
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VTPD: William Babb takes over role of chief of police from page 3
of upgrades may be available. He also mentioned the involvement of the department at the new Innovation Campus. “I’m very excited about the Innovation Campus,” Foust said. “We’re going to play a big role in the safety and security that’s going to happen up there.”
Moreover, Babb expressed the importance of maintaining strong ties to the community and giving people more direct access to the Virginia Tech police. He also brought up the priority of giving members of the VTPD opportunities for professional development. “Because this is such a new thing, we’re going to look for some opportunities to make
sure that our own officers are learning and growing,” Babb said. Despite all the changes in positions and structure at Virginia Tech that went into effect Oct. 1, Foust and Babb affirmed their commitment to maintaining a safe and secure campus. “My primary goal is that we maintain the same high standard of customer care on
lifestyles
campus so that people can stay focused on studying and getting the full campus experience instead of worrying about safety and security,” Babb said.
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‘Hot Girl Semester’: Emblematic of the need for cultural awareness Cultural organizations on campus provide community with opportunities for learning, enrichment and unity. EMILY CARTER AND DONYA MOMENIAN lifestyles editor and opinions editor
Despite it being 53 degrees Thursday night, eager students line the sidewalk of Burruss Hall. As they wait, fans take pictures with the shining lights of the iconic building in the background. At 7:30 on the dot the doors opened and concertgoers donning heels, leather and their trendiest threads flood the lobby to climb the stairs that would lead them to an evening of latex and diamonds. Ever since Virginia Tech’s Black Student Alliance announced Megan Thee Stallion and her opener Key Glock would be coming to Tech, fans have been counting down the days to the climax of their “Hot Girl Semester”. Among the excitement, many may not notice the students sporting blue T-shirts, some of them bearing “Hot Girl” followed by their names on the back, who have worked tirelessly for this night to be possible. Even then, they’re still running up and down the aisles making sure every detail is perfect leading up to the final moments until the lights go down. Though the adrenaline is high in anticipation for the event they have planned to finally be brought to life, they’re still sure to greet everyone with a smile and upbeat attitude. The show may have lasted an hour and 20 minutes, but organizing the event took months of hard work by BSA members including Director of Live Entertainment
TAYO OLADELE / COLLEGIATE TIMES Megan Thee Stallion performs in Burruss auditorium for the BSA Homecoming concert, Oct. 17, 2019.
Caitlyn Stokes, a senior studying family and consumer sciences. “Every year, we switch off with (Virginia Tech Union) of who gets homecoming, and so what we do is come up with a list of artists who I think would be good to come
for whatever concert that is,” Stokes said. “We started narrowing down based on availability, price range, all of that good stuff, and then that’s when we started picking the top people we kind of wanted and putting in offers for those people.”
When it came to the final decision, it was the versatility of Megan Thee Stallion that stood out. As one of the front-runners of the music industry, Megan has pushed boundaries and become an enigma for students, rap enthusiasts and anime fans alike. “She’s a college student, so that’s one of the things that I think makes her really relatable, especially with her doing so much like travelling and always being on the road, but at the same time still keeping up with her studies,” Stokes said. “This summer she started this whole movement of her little “Hot Girl Summer” and it kind of caught on to everyone. Regardless of who you are and what you look like, everyone is able to have a hot girl summer; everyone is able to feel proud of themselves; everyone is able to do what you want to do and feel proud of who you are. I think that’s kind of a thing that people need especially coming here. It’s just a lot of things that empower people in a certain type of way.” When the specifics are finally confirmed, the team can then share the news with students. Though with an announcement like this, it has to be done with finesse. In a series of tweets, BSA teased its followers with a video listing potential artists. “I knew I wanted to do a video to announce it so people could get excited before. With the timeline, we wanted tickets to go out on sale as soon as possible to just make sure the word is out before homecoming week and people actually know about it,” Stokes said. “We
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from page 4
just had to wait until everything was secured and then we just decided to drop a little video saying, ‘guess who it’s going to be,’ and then a day or two after it we announced who it was.” Director of Communications Are’Yanna Dickens, a sophomore double-majoring
waiting for it to actually drop. It’s just a good feeling to actually see excitement in people.” For Dickens, her own emotions were conflicted as she carried the responsibility of sharing such good news to the community. “It was a bit of both nerves and excitement,” Dickens said. “First of all, I was nervous for typos or anything like that or if I spelled anything wrong. It was just nerves
“It’s kind of what comes with the
territory being in any cultural organization. Our whole purpose is that we want to reach out to the greater community, but it’s also about people wanting to be able to be reached out to.
”
in fashion merchandising and design and multimedia journalism, found herself with multiple tabs open on her laptop, taking in the overwhelming amount of responses coming in from the teaser videos. At exactly noon, the scheduled time for the announcement, fans were so eager to hear the news that they messaged the account to inform Dickens that she was late by two minutes. “I was two minutes late dropping it and I got DMs saying, ‘it’s 12:02. Where is it?’ Dickens said. As soon as Dickens finally sent out the announcement, there was an overwhelming number of responses from not only Virginia Tech students but from other colleges as well. “When we said, ‘It’s Megan,’ it was people talking about it and excited for it that were just like, ‘I can’t believe they got Megan,’ because she is the new artist, she’s fresh and she’s relatable to college students because she is a college student herself,” Dickens said. “It was just a lot of my phone blowing up from people who were excited about it.” Stokes was in the Black Cultural Center on campus when the announcement of who was performing was uploaded onto social media, so she saw the impact and excitement of the announcement first-hand. “It was exciting because of all the build-up we got. We announced right after we dropped the video of who it was so the build-up was already still there with people guessing who it is, the excitement and everything like that,” Stokes said. “I know a lot of people under our social media were like, ‘I hope it’s Megan.’ So it was exciting to actually drop it and see it. Personally, I was in the Black Cultural Center when it actually dropped so a lot of people in there were excited and were really
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Caitlyn Stokes Director of Live Entertainment, BSA to make sure I hit the time. I wanted it to go out at 12:00, but also people had follow-up questions of if they can bring friends, tickets and just the nitty-gritty type of things of answering. Other than that, it was more so excitement because other people were excited. One girl was crying. One of my friends was like, ‘oh my god, I can’t believe she’s coming!’ There were a lot of excited emotions about it.” However, this enthusiasm wasn’t mirrored by everyone. Henry Skutt, a senior studying multimedia journalism posted a video depicting the “American Dad” opening theme manipulated so that characters were asleep. The video has been viewed over 219,000 times, and numerous people called Skutt out for being racist. “I think it’s hard to change people’s minds about that kind of thing, especially on social media,” Skutt said. “You get your opinion and you run with it; you’re not going to look into the context. I think I said this on Twitter but my friends, my family, people who know me obviously know I’m not racist, any form of that word or biased in any direction. And that’s why I defended myself so hard … Because that’s not the message of the tweet … I’m just not interested in her music.” Yet for BSA, this type of comment was anticipated. “I would say I kind of did expect it when I was planning it,” Stokes said. “Everyone’s not going to agree with the situations that you do. That’s life. That’s a part of our job. We are the Black Student Alliance. Everyone is not going to like what we do, but a part of our roles and a part of our whole purpose of being here on this campus is to educate people for their ignorance of the black community, of
the culture that we like and we enjoy.” In fact, this is almost a guaranteed factor that will occur when a cultural organization hosts an event. “I think the disconnect is very visual, even before that whole incident happened ... I don’t think it really brought light to it because, just like many situations that happen on campus, it comes and it goes,” Stokes said. The criticism and lack of understanding is only a fraction of the struggle that cultural organizations face on Virginia Tech’s campus. Rather, these issues are oftentimes paired with complete negligence for their presence on campus. “Sometimes people don’t even know who Black Student Alliance is or what they do or don’t come to the events outside of the concert if you’re not involved,” Stokes said. People with no knowledge of these groups have become such a prevalent issue on campus that many have taken it on as an objective to alleviate the unawareness through their projects and events. With the intention of including all members of the community, organizations aim to shorten the gap between cultures, though it may not be met with the same effort. “It’s kind of what comes with the territory being in any cultural organization,” Stokes
said. “Our whole purpose is that we want to reach out to the greater community, but it’s also about people wanting to be able to be reached out to.” As Stokes mentioned, the same sentiment is shared by other cultural organizations such as Virginia Tech’s Asian-interest sorority, Kappa Alpha Delta Phi. “I definitely think there’s a divide with our events, like raising Asian awareness,” said President Jamie Liu, a junior majoring in human nutrition, foods and exercise. “It’s a lot of people in the Asian community that come in but less of people from other cultures that don’t know much about our culture.” Though these problems will likely not disappear any time soon, for a moment, among the crowd made up of people of various ages, genders and ethnicities, it seems as though the community is united in anticipation for a performance that celebrates diversity, expression and liberation. The lights go down and the auditorium erupts in cheers. For the next 80 minutes, we are all “Hot Girls.”
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FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 22, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
ACROSS 1 Barbecue glowers 6 Priestly robes 10 Cobblers’ tools 14 Neighborhood map on a city map, e.g. 15 Java neighbor 16 Former Iranian ruler 17 Classroom text 19 Deep sleep 20 Represent 21 Like a bike 23 Goes on to say 24 Summer on the Riviera 25 MLB Network analyst Martinez 28 Twinkling in the night sky 34 On bed rest, say 36 Lupino of “High Sierra” 37 Bird’s crop 38 Colorado native 39 Relief from the daily grind 42 “__ Am”: Alicia Keys album 43 Screen material 45 Sinus doc 46 Growing weary 48 Office spot with a coffee pot 51 Landlord’s income 52 Tell tall tales 53 Field of study 55 Pays some of 59 Closed in on 62 Cut __: dance, in old slang 63 Start of a sports season, and what each half of 17-, 28-, 39- and 48-Across can have 66 Hightail it 67 Trait carrier 68 Mozart’s “Così fan __” 69 Spill the beans 70 Taiwanese PC maker 71 Most common roll of two dice DOWN 1 Prefix with gender
10/22/19
By Paul Coulter
2 How software was once sold 3 Queens tennis stadium 4 Johnny’s “The Big Bang Theory” role 5 Was conspicuous 6 Convent leader 7 Language of Southeast Asia 8 Hard punch 9 Many a Punjabi 10 One leading a Spartan lifestyle 11 Healthy bread type 12 Like a weak excuse 13 Roe source 18 Inc., in the U.K. 22 Slender aquarium swimmer 25 __ bob: vertical measuring tool 26 Diner 27 Gas at a truck stop 29 Connect with 30 Big deal 31 Whitewater ride 32 “Who __?!”: “Join the club!”
PREVIOUS SOLVED Monday’sPUZZLE Puzzle Solved
©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
33 Small sticks 35 Jetty 40 6, on a cellphone keypad 41 Insects with a painful sting 44 Stylist’s supply 47 Debate again 49 Hawaii’s Mauna __ 50 Style 54 Camping gear brand
10/15/19 10/22/19
55 Inane 56 Mystery writer Gardner 57 Tranquil exercise 58 On __: without a contract 60 1999 Ron Howard film 61 Go out with 64 WSW’s opposite 65 Japanese money
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October 22, 2019 PAGE 7
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Hokies earn first ACC victory over Fighting Irish Jacob Labovitz’s goal in the 80th minute was enough to send the Hokies home with a victory over Notre Dame. JAMES GILMORE sports staff writer
Coming off of a 3–1 loss against Pittsburgh, the Virginia Tech Hokies looked to pick up their first ACC win against Notre Dame on Friday night. The Hokies entered the matchup with an overall record of 6–3–2. Some of their past ACC matchups have been close this season, and this game was no different. The game started out with both teams going back-and-forth in possession. The Hokies’ best early chance came off a header from sophomore Jon Ingason that went right into the hands of Notre Dame goalkeeper Duncan Turnbull.
The Fighting Irish had four corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of the game but did not have any results from them. Jack Lynn, the Irish’s point leader, was active early. An active player for the Hokies throughout the first half was junior Jacob Labovitz; he had two shots on goal in the first 25 minutes. The Fighting Irish got the first goal of the game in the 34th minute off the foot of Lynn. The Virginia Tech defense had been playing well throughout the first half until the ball snuck past them to the feet of Lynn. The second half started out quiet for both teams until the Hokies got a great chance from freshman Nick Blacklock that went just wide. However, this chance switched the momentum of the game. When asked
about the second half adjustments, head coach Mike Brizendine mentioned the team needed to increase its intensity. A couple minutes later, Virginia Tech got a corner kick which resulted in a hand ball by Notre Dame in the 18-yard box. Ingason took the penalty shot and scored Virginia Tech’s first goal of the game in the 61st minute to tie the game 1–1. The aftermath of the goal resulted in more shots on goal by the Hokies. Labovitz had a couple of great shots on goal from the right wing. Another great chance came off a set piece from Daniel Pereira which was tipped just over the bar by Turnbull. One big blow to the Hokies’ offense came in the 68th minute when points leader
Kristo Strickler went down with an injury and did not return. Brizendine thinks that Strickler will be fine for the rest of the season. Virginia Tech took the lead in the 80th minute with a goal from Labovitz. The goal was set up beautifully by Pereira, who dribbled by three Notre Dame defenders to find a wide open Labovitz. The Hokies played great defense for the rest of the game, not allowing anymore chances for the Fighting Irish. This resulted in Virginia Tech’s first conference victory of the season. @CTSportsTalk
Sklopan’s goal sends the Hokies home with a win over Wake Forest, their first since Sept. 21
Grace Sklopan scored the game-winning goal in the second half to give the Hokies a win over last-place Wake Forest. ROBBY FLETCHER sports editor
In 35 career games at Virginia Tech, sophomore Grace Sklopan has proven to be a strong midfielder capable of controlling the pace of the game. In those 35 games she managed just one point, an assist, for the team. That changed in her 36th game. Sklopan’s 60th minute strike off a pass from Molly Feighan was enough to take down the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Thompson Field. Tech (10–3–2, 2–3–2 ACC) hadn’t won a game since Sept. 21 when they beat Miami at home. The team has struggled to close games as of recent, failing to win any of their last three games, all of which went into an overtime period. The team’s 1–0 victory over Wake Forest (5–6–4, 0–4–3 ACC) was a much-needed victory for the Hokie team that desperately needed a win to get out of their five-game funk. It was a scoreless first half for both sides despite Tech outshooting Wake Forest 12–1 and sending in seven corner kicks while Wake Forest failed to get a corner in the half. The backline consisting of Jaylyn
Thompson, Kiersten Hening and Kelsey Irwin held strong in the first half, holding Wake Forest without a recorded shot until the 27th minute when Mandy McGlynn calmly scooped up a header by Hannah Betfort. McGlynn wouldn’t have much else to defend in the half as the Demon Deacons were rarely a threat to score thanks to some impressive defense by the Hokies. Sophomore Emmalee McCarter set up Tech’s first chance at a score in the 16th minute off a set piece toward the right corner of the box. The team wouldn’t have to wait long until its next chance, though, as a poor touch by Wake Forest goalie Mia Raben went right to the feet of Feighan. Feighan had what looked to be an open goal off the blunder, but she took one too many touches and Raben was able to secure the ball back. Wake Forest went into the half looking worn down by Tech’s consistent attack. It didn’t help that the team only used one substitution during the half when forward Abby Mcnamara went in for Ashley Frank in the 30th minute. The Demon Deacons started off the second half with a curious move at the goalie position. Graduate student Meghan Kennedy subbed in at goalie for Wake Forest after a
ALEXYS RIVERS / COLLEGIATE TIMES Forward Molly Feighan (26) takes off with possession for the Hokies, Oct. 10, 2019.
very strong first half by Raben. Kennedy played a strong half in her own right, but she allowed what ended up being the gamewinning goal. The Demon Deacons got close to breaking the tie in the 58th minute when forward Hulda Arnarsdottir ripped a shot past McGlynn that rang off the right post. Not long after, Sklopan did in fact break the tie after a brilliant set-up pass from Feighan that Sklopan slide passed Kennedy in the bottom right corner of the net. The goal was a wake-up call for the Demon Deacons, who ramped up their offensive attack. They nearly leveled the
score in the 65th minute when midfielder Sofia Rossi forced McGlynn to make an acrobatic save that pushed the ball over the net. It was McGlynn’s most impressive play of the game, and a play that kept the game in Tech’s favor. Tech went into a more conservative style of play after Rossi’s shot. It was a successful strategy, despite the team getting just three shots on goal in the half. It kept Wake Forest’s attack in check long enough to secure a crucial victory for the team. @CTSportsTalk
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column
Tech’s historic 6-overtime win against North Carolina puts its season back on the right track The win brings Virginia Tech to 5–2 and proves it has what it takes on both sides of the ball to be compeitive in the ACC. CLAIRE CASTAGNO assistant sports editor
Virginia Tech entered its homecoming matchup with ACC Coastal contender North Carolina with a 4–2 record with losses to Boston College and Duke. It seemed like this was the game that could either put the Hokies’ season back on track or dig them deeper into a hole.
coordinator Bud Foster. “I really thought the last few weeks we’ve handled our situations better; it’s something we’ve really addressed. They fought to the very end. I’m just really proud of them.” After Hendon Hooker went down near the end of the second quarter, redshirt freshman Quincy Patterson was ultimately subbed in after a few plays from Ryan Willis. Throughout the game,
“The dynamic in Lane Stadium has changed since the Duke game; the fans brought the energy all the way through six overtimes in the rain.
After what was a back-and-forth game that went into six overtime periods, Virginia Tech showed fight on the field and advanced to 5-2 despite having to make multiple mid-game adjustments. The offense and defense proved they can stay composed throughout a tough 60 minutes of regulation, and then six overtimes on top of that. After a hard-fought game, the Hokies conveniently have a bye week to prepare for its game against No. 8 Notre Dame on Nov. 2. “We didn’t handle adversity very well [in the Duke game],” said defensive
”
Patterson was very conservative with throwing the ball and came away with 122 net rushing yards, proving he can deliver while the pressure is high. He sealed the game up in the sixth overtime period by running the ball into the endzone himself. Fuente reported that he thought Hooker might play in the second half, but he didn’t end up getting in. However, Fuente doesn’t believe Hooker’s injury is long-term. This raises the question of who will start against Notre Dame. The more experienced Hooker, or quarterback on the rise Patterson?
MEHHER HASNANY / COLLEGIATE TIMES Hokies go head to head with UNC at home and win in six overtimes, Oct. 19, 2019.
The game comes with many positive takeaways that would still exist even if the result had flipped the other way. Most starters are healthy and have shown they can play at a high level against a talented opponent, including true freshman defensive linemen Norell Pollard, who recorded his first career start against UNC. He played strong and composed and contributed two sacks. Foster believes he is a quick learner and has exceeded his expectations since arriving to campus. The dynamic in Lane Stadium has changed since the Duke game; the fans brought the energy all the way through six overtimes in the rain. It truly became an intimidating environment for UNC. “Look at Lane Stadium. It feels good to have the fans stay for the full game,” said receiver Tré Turner. Virginia Tech has a lot on the line this season: a 26-year bowl streak, which is currently the country’s longest, and the Commonwealth Cup, which it has held for 15 consecutive years. To guarantee a spot in a bowl game in the postseason, the Hokies must finish with a record of at least 7–5 on the season. Only one of the two wins against FCS schools Furman and Rhode Island will count toward bowl eligibility. It’s less about record, though, and more
about how the team is performing on the field. While the team is taking the season one game at a time, fans can’t help but look forward to the Commonwealth Cup against a solid Virginia team Nov. 29 in Charlottesville. With Virginia now also sitting at 5–2, the Commonwealth Cup could end up being the deciding factor as to who represents the ACC Coastal in the ACC Championship. This win is certainly a confidence boost for the team, coaches and fans. This Virginia Tech performance looked the most put-together so far this season on both sides of the ball, and if it can keep the momentum going, the Hokies have a real chance of being a threat to ACC teams throughout the remainder of the conference schedule. “We all have heart. That’s something that you can’t coach,” Turner said.
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ETHAN CANDELARIO / COLLEGIATE TIMES Quincy Patterson II (4) dodges UNC’s defense, Oct. 19, 2019.