Women's Soccer: Mountaineers Fall
November 17, 2002 03:33 PM | General
November 17, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sarah Lane’s goal with five seconds left in the first half gave No. 23-ranked Virginia a 1-0 victory over West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament Sunday in Morgantown.
"I think both teams came out to play and it was a hard-fought battle," said West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. "It was just a matter of which team was going to make a mistake. Unfortunately the mistake happened on the side of West Virginia and I credit Virginia because they capitalized on it."
West Virginia goalkeeper Laura Finley slipped coming out of net to cover a loose ball, allowing Lane a wide open net to slip in the easy goal.
"We just didn't clear the ball well and it was hard for Laura to get off her line because she had no footing," said Izzo-Brown. "It comes down to she couldn't make the save because it was too tough for her to get out of the mud."
Playing in a steady rain, the field conditions deteriorated in the second half. Virginia was content to drop back in their half of the field and play defense. "It was so hard to get underneath the ball in the center of the field," said West Virginia junior midfielder Lisa Stoia.
West Virginia managed 18 shots and forced Virginia goalkeeper Anne Abernethy to make six saves, but the muddy field wouldn’t allow the footing necessary for Mountaineer players to get much on their shot attempts. WVU junior Chrissie Abbott led the way with eight shots.
In the second half Izzo-Brown decided to add an extra forward in an attempt to put more pressure on Virginia's defense.
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| West Virginia and Virginia played in a steady rain Sunday afternoon with temperatures hovering just above freezing. |
"With the conditions the way they were there was no midfield play, so we decided to just set the ball up and hope to get a shot on goal," said Izzo-Brown. "By putting three up top we were hoping that we could generate a little more scoring ability."
Virginia committed 17 fouls to West Virginia’s 12; the Mountaineers held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.
Finley was credited with seven saves for West Virginia.
Virginia, which attempted 11 shots, advances to the NCAA round of 16 for the second straight year. The Cavaliers improve to 13-6-2.
"There wasn't a whole lot of soccer to be played today because of the playing conditions, but we fought hard and we tried to do the best we could," said Izzo-Brown.
"There were two excellent teams out there today that wanted to advance in the NCAA tournament. One team was going to have to lose today and it's just a tough way to go down," the coach added.
West Virginia, ranked No. 10 in the nation, finishes its season with an outstanding 18-3-1 record. The 18 victories are a school record.
Scoring Summary
UVA – Lane (unassisted) 44:55
Shots: UVA – 11; WVU – 18
Corner Kicks: UVA – 2; WVU – 5
Fouls: UVA – 17; WVU -12
Goalkeeping: UVA – Abernethy, 0 GA, 6 saves, 90:00; WVU – Finley, 1 GA, 7 saves, 90:00.
