Women's Soccer: WVU Advances In NCAA Play
November 12, 2004 07:49 PM | General
November 12, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas - The West Virginia University women’s soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 2-1 win over Southern Methodist on Friday night at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Mountaineers (15-5-0) got on the board first when an SMU (15-4-3) foul in the 24th minute gave WVU a free kick opportunity from 35 yards out. Service from senior defender Ashley Weimer found freshman Ashley Banks and Banks rifled a shot toward the Mustang goal. An initial save from goalkeeper Amanda Clark deflected toward redshirt freshman Natalie Cocchi and the Ocean Township, N.J., native buried home her fifth goal of the season to give WVU an early 1-0 lead.
Southern Methodist evened the match at the 39:18 mark when Autumn Browning sent a through ball between two Mountaineer defenders setting up a one versus one situation with Mountaineer goalkeeper Lana Bannerman and Mustang Olivia O’Rear. O’Rear beat Bannerman to the far post for her fifteenth goal of the season.
West Virginia dominated the early goings of the match, earning the first six shots of the contest before taking a 15-3 shot advantage into the half. The Mountaineers finished the contest with 28 shots to the Mustangs four.
Twice in the first minutes of the second half, senior forward Laura Kane sent crosses to a charging Banks at the far post, creating excellent scoring opportunities, however both times, Banks missed wide right keeping the score at an even 1-1.
Kane gave the Mountaineers a 2-1 advantage at 57:14 when she scored her eighth goal of the season. Off a free kick, Weimer found Kane centered around the 12 yard line. Kane turned and cut to her left to beat the Mustang keeper to the far corner.
“We knew SMU was a good team coming into this match,” said head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “We were pretty effective tonight and I’m happy with the outcome because SMU was a very competitive opponent. We moved the ball well and were able to get dangerous for about 70 percent of the game.”
West Virgnia is now 4-4-0 all-time in NCAA tournament matches and advances to the second round for the third consecutive season.
With the win, the Mountaineers are assured of their fifth-straight 15-win season.
WVU will face 12th-seeded Texas, the 3-0 winner over North Texas in the night's second match, at noon (CST) on Sunday, Nov. 14.
West Virginia 2, Southern Methodist 1
Scoring Summary: WVU - Cocchi (Banks) 23:35; SMU O’Rear (Browning) 39:18; WVU- Kane 57:14
Shots: WVU -28; SMU -5
Corners: WVU -9 ; SMU -3
Fouls: WVU - 20; SMU - 11
Goalkeeping: WVU - Lana Bannerman 1GA 1 save, 90:00 minutes; SMU - Amanda Clark 2GA 9 saves 90:00 minutes
