A Goal is the Goal
October 17, 2006 10:26 AM | General
October 17, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sometimes a coach can hit a home run. Consider the case of West Virginia University women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown who trusted her instincts on Deana Everett.
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| Sophomore Deana Everrett's 16 goals ranks her third in the country this year.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Although Everett was a member of the Canadian U-19 national team that played in the World Cup in Thailand, she was somewhat overshadowed by some of the bigger-name players on the team like Amanda Cicchini.
Several American universities knew about Cicchini and were recruiting her hard. Everett’s only other American college offer came from Boston University.
“She wasn’t a player that really stood out like an Amanda Cicchini,” Izzo-Brown recalled. “But if you really watched Deana play you knew she had the capability of scoring goals at this level. A lot of people passed on her because they didn’t see all of her talents and abilities.”
Izzo-Brown wasn’t simply interested in signing Everrett to increase her chances of landing Cicchini: she wanted both of them.
When the two eventually committed to West Virginia a month before the signing date, Izzo-Brown had to sit on pins and needles until signing day hoping no one else would find out about Everrett.
“We wanted Deana and we stuck by her and waited until they were done with their world championships,” Izzo-Brown recalled.
“We knew Deana was not only a great player but also a great person and a great fit for WVU and we were just hoping that when we finally got her in for a visit that she would commit and we could hang onto her,” Izzo-Brown said.
Everrett said it was love at first sight for her when she came to West Virginia.
“I instantly fell in love with the school and the team,” she said. “I knew after I left my visit and went home that this was the place for me.”
Everett and Cicchini made their decisions independently.
“Amanda and I have been best friends since we were really young,” Everrett said. “We both took our visits together but we decided for ourselves.”
Now a sophomore, Deana Everrett has become one of the top goal scorers in the country. Heading into this week’s action Everett is ranked third in the nation in both points (38) and goals per game (1.00).
Her 16 goals are two behind national leader Kala Morgan of Middle Tennessee State. Of players from major soccer conferences, only Kerri Hanks and Michele Weissenhofer of No. 1-ranked Notre Dame, Gina DiMaretino of Boston College and Brittany Timko of Nebraska have scored more than 10 goals so far this season.
Everrett, the reigning Big East player of the week, is four goals shy of reaching Chrissie Abbott’s school record of 20 scored in 2002. And she is only one goal away from tying Katie Barnes for second place on the single-season list. What’s significant about that is that both Abbott and Barnes were All-Americans.
“Hopefully I can keep it up,” Everrett said. “But I just want to focus on the season right now and not worry about any records or things like that.”
Last year, a bum ankle limited Everrett to just eight starts and four goals. But that was enough for Izzo-Brown to realize that she needed to tweak her attack this season and get more people moving forward toward the net.
“We’re playing a little bit of a different strategy where we check into the center of the field to try and play a little more of the field,” Everrett said. “Kim (Bonilla) and I both have to work off of each other.”
Izzo-Brown explains.
“We have a different team this year and we’re able to do some things getting some more numbers forward and some more opportunities to get our forwards in better positions in front of the box,” said the coach.
The result is a much more exciting brand of soccer. West Virginia has already scored 15 more goals than it did last year and its 3.06 goals-per-game average ranks eighth in the country.
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| Grade school friends Deana Everrett and Amanda Cicchini have done a lot of celebrating this season at West Virginia.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
West Virginia had a season-high eight goals against St. Bonaventure and has scored three or more goals in conference games against Pitt, Syracuse, DePaul and Georgetown.
“We have to know each other and know where to place the ball for each other,” Everrett said. “We have to work off of each other really well and have good vision.”
The Mountaineers’ 13-1-2 record has all but locked up their seventh straight NCAA tournament bid. What No. 7-ranked West Virginia is gunning for now is home field advantage for post-season play.
In order to do that West Virginia has a very difficult conference home match this Friday against Connecticut and then wraps up the regular season at home against Providence on Sunday.
“It would be nice to win a Big East championship and host the NCAAs but we’ve got to beat UConn in order to make those things happen,” Everrett said.
UConn tied No. 1 Notre Dame last weekend while the Irish knocked off West Virginia 3-1 earlier this year, giving the Mountaineers their only loss of the season.
“The fact that they tied Notre Dame is something to think about,” Everrett said.
After beating No. 23 Villanova last Friday in a battle of wills, the team's confidence is at an all-time high.
“I think our confidence level is high but we’re not too high,” Everrett cautioned. “We’re not overconfident.”
A pair of victories over Connecticut and Providence can lock up the Big East American Division for the Mountaineers. West Virginia’s only other regular-season conference title came in 2002 when it captured the Big East Mid-Atlantic Division with a 5-0-1 conference record on the way to an 18-3-1 season.
The Connecticut match on Friday night will get underway at 7 pm.
