WVU Savors Big Win
September 22, 2003 02:09 PM | General
September 22, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown says a good number of the congratulatory telephone calls she has received following her team’s memorable 1-0 victory at Connecticut Friday night came from 1996 team members.
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| West Virginia made Laura Kane's first-half goal stand up at nationally ranked Connecticut last Friday. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
That was Izzo-Brown’s first year coaching the Mountaineer women’s program and that was also the team that went up to Storrs, Conn., and was humiliated by the Huskies 12-0. It was the widest margin of victory for UConn against another Big East opponent and Connecticut players were credited with an amazing 21 assists for the game, a school record.
“Just about all of our alumni who played on that team called me,” said Izzo-Brown. “Knowing where we’ve been and where we’re going it was nice to hear from them.”
West Virginia’s triumph against the No. 8-rated Huskies was a benchmark victory for the women’s program. It was the first time in five previous tries that the Mountaineers were able to win a game in Storrs against long-time coach Len Tsantiris.
“He’s one of the most winningest coaches in the country and anytime we can beat them we know we’ve beaten a great coach and a great team,” said Izzo-Brown.
West Virginia had just one prior victory against Connecticut in 2001 in the first round of the Big East tournament, and lost to the Huskies, 1-0 in the Big East championship game last year.
Since 2000, every game against Connecticut has been decided by one goal.
West Virginia, now 7-1 after a Sunday afternoon victory at Yale, managed to get an early goal from junior midfielder Laura Kane against the Huskies. Despite the early lead, Izzo-Brown wanted her team to keep the pressure on Connecticut.
“We wanted to put them away ... we wanted more goals,” she said. “We kind of wanted to go at them. Obviously when the time starts ticking in the second half your mind starts changing a little bit and be more conservative. But we wanted to go after them; we wanted three or four more.”
Izzo-Brown, now 96-43-9 in eight seasons at WVU, has led the Mountaineers to several outstanding victories. West Virginia went on the road last year to Charlottesville, Va., and defeated nationally ranked Virginia, the Mountaineers finally defeated Notre Dame, 3-0 in 2002 after eight unsuccessful tries, and WVU topped Connecticut 1-0 in the first round of the Big East tournament in 2001.
But the weight of those wins pales in comparison to defeating a perennial top 10 women’s soccer program on the road.
“It was huge for us,” she said. “Connecticut is always such a big powerhouse and it’s so tough to beat them there. We’ve never done it so the girls were ecstatic and they’re beginning to see all of that hard work starting to pay off.”
Izzo-Brown says one of the most impressed observers was Tsantiris, whose 387 victories in 22 seasons ranks among the most in NCAA women’s soccer history.
“He was very complimentary after the game,” said Izzo-Brown.
West Virginia, ranked No. 8 in Soccer America and No. 15 by the NSCAA, should undoubtedly climb in the polls this week. The Mountaineers have key matches coming up at Tennessee and at Notre Dame.
No. 11-rated Tennessee won the SEC last season and Notre Dame, an annual Big East contender, is ranked No. 2 in the country behind North Carolina.
However, a trap game could be waiting West Virginia this Wednesday at home against 5-3 Binghamton.
“Every game is a battle,” said Izzo-Brown. “I don’t take them lightly. We’re going to go after Binghamton like we’re going to go after Tennessee and Notre Dame.”
Wednesday’s match will follow the Mountaineer men’s rescheduled contest against Providence at 3:30 p.m. Both matches can be heard via the Internet through MSNsportsNET.com.
