Women's Soccer Handles No. 15 Texas Tech
October 10, 2014 10:21 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 14 West Virginia University women’s soccer team fought against cold rain and playing a man down for the majority of the second half to earn its first win of the season against a ranked opponent, a 4-2 victory over No. 15 Texas Tech, tonight, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
“Tonight was about what we overcame,” said Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “Adversity was swirling, and we scored two goals with one man down. It was unbelievable how we defended. I’m so proud of this group. You could sense how hard they wanted this win. They gutted it out. When you talk about grit – that was grit.”
Up 2-1 in the 55th minute, redshirt-freshman forward Amandine Pierre-Louis was sent off the field with a red card, issued after a tackle at midfield. Playing one man down, the Mountaineers persevered, scoring two more goals, one five minutes after the red card, and earned their first home conference win of the season.
“They turned the focus on tonight,” Izzo-Brown expanded. “They absolutely dealt with the adversity and what was at hand. They understood what they were up against and didn’t fold at all. Nothing fazed them, and they took control. That was huge – not many teams would do that.”
WVU’s win avenges its 2-0 loss in Lubbock in 2013, the team’s lone defeat in Big 12 regular-season play. The Mountaineers (9-2-2, 2-0-1) now own a 10-match unbeaten streak. The squad has not lost a home conference match since Oct. 2, 2009, a span of 23 games.
“We had it in for Texas Tech to just beat them because of last year – we wanted to come out strong. It was important to overcome a lot of things,” said junior defender Maggie Bedillion. “It’s hard to play with a man down, but we came through.”
With the game knotted at 1-1 in the 21st minute, sophomore midfielder Ashley Lawrence gave the Mountaineers the lead for good. Following a scuffle inside the box, Lawrence came up with the ball and dribbled it away from the pack toward the outside edge. From there, she beat a TTU defender with a move, drawing the Red Raiders’ Lauren Watson off her line. Lawrence then sent her low shot toward the goal mouth, directing it far post and past multiple TTU defenders inside the net.
The Mountaineers were efficient with the ball tonight, connecting on all but one of their shots on-goal. WVU is the first team to score more than two goals against the Red Raiders this season.
The Mountaineers have now scored four goals in four of their last six matches. WVU finished with a 15-9 shot advantage, and each team earned three corner-kick opportunities.
Junior Hannah Steadman made two saves tonight, both in the second half, and Watson finished with one.
Junior midfielder Cari Price scored her first goal of the season, the game-winner, five minutes after Pierre-Louis was sent off. The Sykesville, Maryland, native received a great feed from midfielder Amanda Hill near the top of the box in stride. She sent an immediate low shot toward the net that hugged the far left post.
Freshman forward Michaela Abam displayed incredible leg strength in the 72nd minute, taking a blast from the 30-yard line off a throw in that sailed over Watson’s head and into the far upper left corner of the net. The goal was the fourth of the season for the Houston native.
A goal by Janine Beckie in the 85th minute cut the Mountaineers’ advantage to two, but TTU would get no closer. Beckie gathered the rebound off a Caity Heap chance and put her shot behind Steadman for her 10th of the season.
A failed clearance in the fourth minute gave TTU (10-3-1, 0-3-1) an early edge. Hannah Devine intercepted the ball and sent it to Paige Strahan inside the box. Strahan then turned and beat Steadman to the near corner for her third score of the season. It was the first goal allowed by WVU since Sept. 19.
The Mountaineers didn’t trail for long, as Bedillion tallied her third score of the season on a lofting shot from 19-yards out. After the Mountaineers pushed the ball forward, Bedillion put a move on a TTU defender before sending a hard, high shot to the far right corner and out of the reach of Watson’s outstretched hands.
WVU is now 3-2-1 when its opponent scores first this season. The team is 9-0 when scoring two or more goals.
With the win, the Mountaineers improve to 2-1 against the Red Raiders.
The Mountaineers return to the road next week and travel to Ames, Iowa, for a match at Iowa State on Friday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. ET. The team will close the weekend at No. 11 Kansas on Sunday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. ET.
