Women's Soccer: Spring Season Underway
February 25, 2008 01:08 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
February 25, 2008
 |
||
| Nikki Izzo-Brown |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University women’s soccer team opened its spring season today with a morning workout at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility (IPF). The Mountaineers will train from now until April 25 with a game at Maryland to conclude the spring season.
West Virginia travels to Penn State on March 1, for a 1 p.m. kickoff in State College, Pa. It’s the first of five competition dates allowed by the NCAA.
Next up for the Mountaineers is a trip to James Madison on April 5. Kickoff is slated for noon in Harrisonburg, Va.
WVU will play Purdue, the defending Big Ten champions, in the Betty Puskar Breast Care Center Soccer Invitational on April 13 at noon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The spring booking concludes with weekend trips to Ohio State on April 20 (1 p.m.) and Maryland on April 25 (8 p.m.).
“I am very excited about the competition we will be playing this spring,” says Head Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “We will be playing four NCAA teams and the Big Ten champs in Purdue. It’s a tough schedule that will allow us to see some weaknesses to improve on for the fall.”
To get a jump start on the 2008 season, West Virginia will take advantage of an NCAA rule that allows it to schedule an out-of-country tour every four years. The Mountaineers will take a 10-day trip to Italy and Czech Republic on March 20-30.
“The experience and knowledge gained from our international competitions will be invaluable in our development,” says Izzo-Brown. “We will be playing the full Czech national team and first division premier teams. This trip will serve as a great learning environment for our ladies to continue their development individually and collectively as a team.”
Also this spring is West Virginia’s annual 4-versus-4 tournament to raise funds for the Betty Puskar Breast Care Center. On March 2, more than 60 teams will compete in the “Three’s a Team…the Fourth’s a Mountaineer” all-day event at the IPF. The tournament is open to boys and girls in grades three through eight, with an open division for college-age and older groups.
