On a Roll
October 09, 2005 04:10 PM | General
October 9, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 21 West Virginia University women’s soccer team maintained its grip on second place in the BIG EAST’s Division A with a 2-0 shutout of South Florida on Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (8-3-3, 5-1-1) got on the board 2:34 into the second half when senior Kambria Riggins sent a cross into the South Florida box. Fellow senior Rachael Minnich connected with the Riggins’ cross, flicking it to a charging Ashley Banks who drove a shot past USF (5-5-2, 0-4-2) goalkeeper Casey Garrett and into the far netting for her fourth goal of the season.
The scored remained 1-0 WVU until the 82:14 mark when freshman Amanda Cicchini found herself in the perfect position for her first collegiate score. After a West Virginia corner kick, the Bulls failed to the clear the ball out of the box and Cicchini was in the right place, redirecting the ball into the back of the net to give the Mountaineers the insurance score.
The Mountaineer defense allowed no South Florida corner kicks and gave up only two shots in the match. Goalkeeper Lana Bannerman only had to make two saves, one a diving save to her left to prevent a Bull score of a set piece, in the 23rd shutout of her career. Bannerman is now two shutouts shy of the WVU career shutouts record.
The win is West Virginia’s fifth in a row and the Mountaineers second straight shutout. It is the second time this season that WVU has posted back-to-back shutouts and the first time the Mountaineers have earned seven shutouts in a season since the 2003 season.
“This was a great weekend for us,” commented head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “We had an emotional win over Marquette on Friday night and it is great for us to come back on Sunday and get another victory.”
Today’s victory completes the home portion of the regular season schedule, giving the Mountaineers a perfect 7-0-0 mark. It is the second time in women’s soccer history that West Virginia has earned an undefeated home record.
The Mountaineers are next in action on Friday, Oct. 14, when they travel to Villanova for a 4 p.m., match with the Wildcats. West Virginia then plays at Georgetown at 1 p.m., on Sunday, Oct. 16.
