Virginia Tech women advance in NCAA Tournament with 4-0 win over Cincinnati

BLACKSBURG (Via Virginia Tech) – The No. 4 seed Virginia Tech women’s soccer team advanced to the second round of the 2015 NCAA Women’s Soccer Championships after an impressive 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats at Thompson Field.

The Hokies, only leading 1-0 at halftime, got two goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half to take control. Alani Johnson scored two goals while Candace Cephers and Murielle Tiernan each added one in the win.

Tech improves to 15-3-2 on the year while Cincinnati’s season ends with a record of 13-6-5.

Holding a one goal lead, Murielle Tiernan hit a shot just inside the penalty box that was pushed away by Cincinnati goalkeeper Sam Pavlika only to end up in the path of Johnson who put the ball into the empty net to make it 2-0. Just over four minutes later, Johnson scored again, this time on a shot from 10-yards out that took a deflection off a Cincinnati defender before ending up in the goal.

The Hokies would conclude the scoring on the evening in the 69th minute as Candace Cephers put a header in at the near post off a Kallie Peurifoy corner kick.

The Hokies outshot Cincinnati 17-3 for the game including a decisive 11-1 advantage in shots on goal. Tech also had a 10-1 edge in corner kicks.

In the first half, Tech almost got on the board fist as Cephers had a low shot that beat the goalkeeper but hit off the left post and went back into play. The next shot for the Hokies resulted in a goal in the 25th minute as Morgan Conklin played a diagonal pass into the box and hit Tiernan in stride. Tiernan hit the shot toward the far post and away from the keeper to put Tech up 1-0.

The Hokies will travel to play at 3 p.m. on Nov. 20 at University Park, State College, Penn. as they will face Ohio State.