Mountaineers Rally to Defeat Villanova
October 19, 2008 04:16 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
October 19, 2008
| Villanova 1, #17 West Virginia 2 (1 OT) Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium Morgantown, W.Va. |
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| Shots | 7 | 23 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shots on Goal | 2 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Saves | 7 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Corner Kicks | 1 | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fouls | 12 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the second straight match, the 17th-ranked West Virginia women’s soccer team rallied from a goal down to defeat a BIG EAST opponent. Senior Amanda Cicchini and freshman Blake Miller netted goals to defeat Villanova, 2-1, in overtime Sunday afternoon in front of 1,036 fans at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
“I’m proud of how this team battled after a tough, emotional game on Friday (against Georgetown),” said Head Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “You never want to come from behind to win a game, but that is what we’ve done twice now. It was a nice win today.”
West Virginia trailed for less than eight minutes as Cicchini scored her second goal of the season in the 71st minute to knot the score at 1-1.
The play started when Miller was fouled by a Villanova defender, setting up a free kick that was cleared by the Wildcats. Senior Greer Barnes retained possession and dumped the ball into the corner to redshirt freshman Erica Henderson. Henderson served the ball into the middle of the box where Cicchini won a 50/50 ball. The All-America midfielder slid it into the lower right corner for the score.
Ninety minutes were not enough as WVU played into its eighth overtime match of the season. A persistent Mountaineer offense scored one minute into the extra session. Miller scored the golden goal, and team-leading seventh of the season, at the 91-minute mark.
The Mountaineers went the length of the field in transition with Henderson attacking down the left flank. Henderson’s cross into the middle was one-timed hard by Senior Deana Everrett with Nova goalkeeper Molly Williams knocking the shot down, but away from her body. Miller was in prime position to finish the play, sending the ball just underneath the crossbar for the game-winner.
“Amanda and Blake both played well today,” added Izzo-Brown, whose team is 8-0-2 at home. “They finished their scoring chances in an important conference game. And this team really wanted to help the seniors win their final regular season game at Dick Dlesk.”
Miller’s seven goals leave the St. Louis, Mo., native one shy of tying former Mountaineer Ashley Banks for most goals by a WVU freshman in school history.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the 64th minute on a goal from sophomore Justine Wollner, her fourth of the season. Villanova’s Kaitlin Ryan raced up the right flank and crossed the ball into the middle. Wollner was in position to take a failed clearance by a WVU defender and knock the ball into the right side of the goal.
The Mountaineer offense was aggressive throughout the match, generating many quality scoring chances.
Everrett nearly put the Mountaineers on the board in the 33rd minute on a header. Barnes made a run forward and found Everrett whose shot went just wide of the post from six yards out.
Williams came up with back-to-back saves in the 74th and 75th minute to prevent the Mountaineers from scoring a second goal in regulation. Williams made a diving save on a Henderson shot from deep inside the box and followed with a save low to the ground on a header from Blank.
WVU sophomore goalkeeper Kerri Butler came up with a huge save of her own in the 83rd minute. Ryan turned the corner on a Mountaineer defender and attacked the net. Butler came off her line and deflected Ryan’s shot wide of the net.
For the eighth time this season, the WVU offense registered 20 or more shots. West Virginia took 23 shots with Everrett and Blank combining for 12 attempts.
Villanova finished with seven shots, but only two were on-goal.
Williams finished with six saves and Butler made one stop on the afternoon.
The Mountaineers set a school record with 18 corner kicks but came up empty on nearly every attempt.
WVU goes to 10-2-5 (5-1-3 BIG EAST) on the season, its 12th 10-win season in the program’s 13 years. The win was also the 175th win for Izzo-Brown, now 175-69-24 in 13 seasons in Morgantown.
West Virginia extends its lead in the all-time series to 8-4-4 against Villanova, who moves to 11-5-1 (4-4-1 BIG EAST) on the season. The Mountaineers snapped Villanova's 110-game unbeaten streak (105-0-5) when it scores the first goal of a game.
Sunday marked the final regular season home contest for eight seniors: Everrett, Barnes, Cicchini, Stephanie Burgess, Lisa DuCote, Kelsey Fowler, Michelle Molinari and Robin Rushton.
WVU closes out the regular season with a pair of BIG EAST road matches. The Mountaineers travel to Marquette on Friday, Oct. 24, and take on USF on Sunday, Oct. 26.
