Club soccer team takes aim at championship goal

If you walk into a Virginia Tech communication class this semester and claim a seat beside Duke Durand, Riley Fox or Andres Zelaya, you may not realize that your neighbor is a club soccer player who played for the national championship last fall.

“That national game was so brutal,” said Durand, a sports media and analytics major, recalling the November game against Brigham Young University. “We had players that played six games in three days. They were burnt out from the emotion.”

In the games that Virginia Tech played en route to the championship, overtime or penalty kicks determined the outcome in three of them. The Hokies ended their championship run with a 2-0 loss to Brigham Young.

“We were all crying because we were just so drained,” said Durand, who is president of the team and an all-tournament selection. “We were so drained from the tournament, and we were so drained from the season —just from how great of a season we had and how much it took to get to that point.”

Now that fall is here, the players are back and ready to return to the national stage. They want nothing more than to avenge their championship loss.

“It’s definitely motivation for the guys,” said Andres Zelaya, a sports media and analytics major and a winger on the team. “We were pretty disappointed with that loss, but we’re picking things back up for the fall semester, getting new guys, and going back into heavy weeks of training and games. We’re all excited for the season.”

The team took its first step toward achieving that goal with its season opening 7-0 shutout against Radford University. The University of Virginia is next on the schedule.

But in the past year, the team did not lose its focus, even in the off season.

In the spring, Durand hatched an idea to keep the team sharp. He helped create Collegiate Club Soccer, a spring league open to teams on the East Coast.

A successful social media campaign resulted in teams from all over the Atlantic flocking to compete in the new league.

Summoning the winning attitude the team exhibited in the fall, the Virginia Tech club soccer players found themselves in a second nip-and-tuck title game, this time facing the University of Miami. The Hokies battled the Hurricanes to a penalty shoot-out.

“Unfortunately, our first guy hit the post, [then] they scored,” Durand said. “I stepped up next and hit the post; that hurt so bad.”

The Virginia Tech team left the field after another setback in a championship match, but Durand said he felt amped up and prepared for the road ahead. He said his expectations for the fall season have soared due to the returning talent on the team.

“As a leader, you have to be able to communicate with every player on the team and understand how specific communication styles affect them and how they react to them to make your players feel the most comfortable and get the best out of them,” Durand said.

He started putting together conditioning training packets from NCAA Division III schools and mixing them with his own workout philosophy in an effort to implement changes in the team’s training regimen. Durand also provides personal training for aspiring young athletes in his limited spare time.

Also, an internship with the Orange County Soccer Club in California opened Durand’s eyes to public relations and marketing opportunities that he deemed easily transferable to his Hokie team in Blacksburg.

"You need to be active in the community [by] reaching out to sponsors and making an impact,” Durand said, citing the personalization and fundraising tactics of professional clubs that he planned to implement in the 2024 season.

Operating on a limited budget and without a board of leaders, the student-athletes on the club soccer team shoulder the responsibility of raising funds for expenses. Balancing the pressures of academics, playing a club sport, and serving as an officer on the team poses a host of challenges.

“It’s like a full-time job, but you have to realize that we’re still college students,” said Fox, the team’s social chair who plays striker. “We still need to focus on our grades because that’s very important to us. We also want to enjoy our college experience.”

Durand said the juggling act works for him.

“You need balance in all aspects of life,” he said. “Club soccer allows me to set my schedule for the week, which gives me the chance to carve out time for academics and the sport I love.”

The cohesive achievement-oriented team refuses to let challenges get in the way of its momentum.

“There's so much work that goes into [club soccer] that people don't see. A lot of people only see the end product,” Durand said. “Our season starts in the summer when we pick the schedule and when we're doing workouts. Then, [through] tryouts in the fall, we expand our team and really get after it.”

Durand admitted that he has set the bar high for himself and the team.

“We’re going back to the national championship; we’re going to win it,” he said. “We don’t talk about goals without plans to achieve them. There’s a purpose for everything we do for the club.”

By Evan Hull '25