Women's Soccer Blog: Adding to the Legacy
November 09, 2014 12:45 PM | General
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Sophomore midfielder Ashley Lawrence scored the game-winning goal at the 2013 Big 12 Soccer Championship. She, too, will carry confidence into today's title match.
Scott Weaver Photo |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Confidence is contagious, and it engulfed the No. 8 West Virginia University women’s soccer team Friday night.
Standing at midfield at Swope Soccer Village and staring down Texas’ Abby Smith, an All-Big 12 goalkeeper, the Mountaineers knew they had to make just one more penalty kick than the fifth-seeded Longhorns to advance to their second straight Big 12 Soccer Championship final.
No big deal.
Senior midfielder Ali Connelly never doubted her team.
“We practice PKs every day, so everyone was pretty confident standing out there on the field,” the South Bend, Indiana, native said. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get back to this game, so we’re pretty excited to play today.”
Connelly and her classmates – Jess Crowder, Katie Osterman and Kate Schwindel – have a chance to leave West Virginia with seven conference titles, winning a regular-season and tournament championship each year but 2012.
Today’s championship appearance is the program’s seventh since 2001. WVU has walked away with the tournament title four times, with three wins coming in the last five years.
“That just shows what a great program coach Nikki Izzo-Brown has built here at WVU,” Connelly said. “Every year we find a way to make it back to the conference championship. We have proved that we’re one of the best teams in the country.”
Junior midfielder Amanda Hill said the 2014 Mountaineers are hungry to add to the program’s history today.
“Once you get the satisfaction of winning one title and you get to enjoy that great feeling – you want to enjoy it again and again,” said the Washington, Pennsylvania, native. “You will do everything it takes to get that feeling again. I think we’ve earned this championship appearance, and we’re going to battle to take back what’s ours.”
Hill believes the confidence boost the Mountaineers gained Friday night will help them do just that today.
“It’s obviously natural to be tense because there’s a title on the line, but we play every game like it’s a championship,” said Hill. “This is definitely huge. The pressure to win again is there, but we always put that pressure on us, whether it’s expected or not. It’s just another game, but we’re going to come out strong and fight.”
The Mountaineers and sixth-seeded Oklahoma will kick for the Big 12 Championship title this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET. FOX Sports 1 will broadcast the contest.
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