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October 28, 2007 05:37 PM | General
October 28, 2007
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BOX SCORE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia women’s soccer team rallied from a goal down in the second half to defeat the Marquette Golden Eagles 3-1, on a gorgeous sun-drenched Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
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| Ashley Banks scores the first of her two goals Sunday in West Virginia's 3-1 victory over Marquette.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
With the victory, West Virginia (13-4-1, 9-1-1) wraps up its second consecutive American Division BIG EAST championship and its third in school history. The Mountaineers also won a division title in 2002.
“I’m just so proud of what the young ladies accomplished and the momentum we are going into postseason with,” Izzo-Brown said. “What can I say? As a coach I have never had a team that has won back-to-back BIG EAST championships so I’m just so proud that I was able to coach a team of this caliber.”
Marquette (12-3-4, 5-3-3) got on the board first when forward Christy Zwolski sent a through ball up the right side to senior forward Allison Mallams, who pounded the ball into the back of the net from 18 yards out in the 21st minute. Despite out-shooting Marquette 10-5 the Mountaineers were unable to net a goal in the first 45 minutes.
“Marquette is a first half team. Their momentum comes at you in the first half. I don’t think we played flat in the first half, Marquette was just that good in the first half and then we figured out what we had to do and how we had to be better in the second half,” Izzo-Brown said. “You have to credit Marquette. They had a chance and they finished their chance. We had chances and we didn’t finish.”
Finishing chances is exactly what West Virginia did in the second half, scoring three goals in the span of four minutes and sixteen seconds to put the game away.
Sophomore midfielder Carolyn Blank got the Mountaineers on the board when she came out of a scrum set up by a free kick from Kim Bonilla in the middle of the box. Senior Kiley Harris touched the ball to Blank, who drove the ball home to even the score at 1-1 in the 57th minute. The goal was Blank’s second of the season.
West Virginia struck again just a minute and five seconds later when senior Ashley Banks scored off a rebound of her own shot. Banks fired a ball off the chest of Marquette goalkeeper Laura Boyer and then kicked the ball past her into the net.
Banks finished the scoring just three minutes and 11 seconds later when a Harris cross rebounded off Boyer’s glove and Banks was there for the follow. The goal was the team-leading 13th of the season for Banks.
“Kiley played a great ball across and I didn’t know if the keeper was going to save it or if it was going to hit the post,” Banks said. “I didn’t know if she was going to touch it but I wanted to make sure I was there to follow it up if she did and that’s what happened.”
WVU is 35-2 all-time when Ashley Banks scores a point. Banks is one of two players in West Virginia history to record 30 goals and 25 assists in her career, joining All-American Katie Barnes. Banks is a top candidate for BIG EAST player of the year honors, a fact not lost on her head coach.
“I can’t vote for my own but if I could I would. All her stats and everything indicate that Ashley Banks should be player of the year in the BIG EAST,” Izzo-Brown said. “Her career has been absolutely awesome and it’s been a pleasure to help develop her as an individual player. I think this year is just the icing on the cake of what she has accomplished as a Mountaineer.”
West Virginia receives a bye in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament and will have a week off before hosting either Villanova or South Florida in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Nov. 4.
Game time at Dick Dlesk Stadium has been scheduled for 1 p.m.
