Homestretch
October 11, 2005 02:58 PM | General
October 11, 2005
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| Izzo-Brown |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s been a pretty good couple of weeks for the No. 21-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team. After a tough stretch of games when the Mountaineers lost at No. 1 Portland and then had three consecutive ties on the road against Richmond, William & Mary and Syracuse, they were able to rebound to win five straight conference home matches.
Most recently, the Mountaineers posted impressive victories over Rutgers, Seton Hall and No. 12 Marquette. West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown sees a very young team beginning to grow up.
“If you look at our roster right now we’re very young but I think the younger players are getting better every game and kind of understanding the system and the expectations,” she said. “They’re stepping up and playing with some experience.”
Earlier this year Izzo-Brown admits her team was still feeling its way around, especially during a disappointing 2-1 loss at Pitt.
“There are different areas at different times that I think we need to work on so when one area is pretty solid we kind of move on to another. Every game is different and every team is different,” said Izzo-Brown.
One area that has been particularly troublesome for West Virginia is finishing scoring opportunities. After having a series of high-scoring forwards the last couple of years, the Mountaineers don’t have a goal scorer the caliber of All-Americans Katie Barnes, Chrissie Abbott and Laura Kane. Consequently, Izzo-Brown has had to rely on a defense that ranks first in the Big East allowing just 0.64 goals per game.
“Goals count so much at this point,” Izzo-Brown said. “We’re very young up top and in the midfield and just finishing chances is an art and it’s tough to do every time.”
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| Krystle Kallman, a 5-foot-6-inch defender from Woodbury, Minn., is one of 12 freshmen on this year's roster.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Senior Marissa Kanela leads the Mountaineers with four goals and 13 points. Sophomore Ashley Banks shows four goals and nine points, while freshman Deana Everrett and senior Rachael Minnich show three goals each.
Junior goal keeper Lana Bannerman ranks first in the Big East with seven shutouts and is second with a 0.61 goals-against average. A pretty stout backline has only forced Bannerman to save 31 shots, the second-fewest to Notre Dame’s 22 this year in the conference.
The Mountaineers (8-3-3) have played much better of late and their 2-0 victory over an outstanding Marquette team last Friday night should give them some additional confidence heading down the stretch into postseason.
“When this team is ready and confident and playing with experience we can beat anybody,” Izzo-Brown said. “It’s just making sure it’s all happening for those 90 minutes on game days.”
West Virginia has perhaps the toughest remaining schedule of any Big East team facing a three-game stretch against 8-3-4 Villanova, 11-3-1 Georgetown and 11-2-1 Connecticut, which is five points ahead of WVU in the Big East ‘A’ Division.
“It’s going be tough but we wouldn’t want it any other way and we’re going to go after these teams,” Izzo-Brown said. “We’re feeling good about ourselves and we want to go out there and play Mountaineer soccer and go after them.”
All three matches are on the road spanning seven days, beginning this Friday with West Virginia’s trip to always-tough Villanova.
“The Big East wanted to beat us up,” Izzo-Brown joked.
One thing working in West Virginia’s favor was a difficult early-season non-conference schedule featuring matches against No. 1 Portland, No. 5 Virginia and No. 23 Tennessee.
“When you play teams like that they exploit things that maybe average teams don’t so you can see where you’re going to be weak when you have pressure,” Izzo-Brown said. “I do believe those type of games have helped us grow and learn quickly.”
West Virginia wrapped up its regular-season home schedule last Sunday with a win over South Florida, and Izzo-Brown is hopeful her team can have another game or two at Dick Dlesk Stadium in the postseason.
“It was a strange thing for the seniors (having senior day on Oct. 9),” Izzo-Brown said. “On the flip side I’m sure it got them thinking, wait a minute this could be over. Or we can play hard and finish strong and get a couple of more games back here in the tournament. It could play either way.”
West Virginia still has a shot to catch Connecticut in the ‘A’ Division. The Huskies have matches coming on the road at Notre Dame and DePaul before facing West Virginia in Storrs on Oct. 21. UConn wraps up the regular season with a home match against Pitt.
The top five teams on each side make the Big East tournament and the top four automatically advance to the quarterfinals. The semifinals and finals will be played at Marquette.
“If we win out we can do big things. It’s just taking Villanova and then the next opponent and then the next opponent,” said Izzo-Brown.
