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No. 2 WVU Closes Regular Season at Baylor
October 29, 2015 10:36 AM | Women's Soccer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 2-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team closes its 2015 regular season at Baylor on Friday, Oct. 30, with first kick from Betty Lou Mays Field in Waco, Texas, set for 8 p.m. ET.
The match will be broadcast on FOX Sports Plus.
Friday’s match features the Big 12 Conference’s top-two teams. The Mountaineers (15-1-1, 6-0-1) secured their fourth straight outright conference regular-season crown with a 2-1 overtime win at Oklahoma State on Oct. 23. The Bears (9-5-3, 4-1-2) lost their bid for a share of the title with a 1-1 draw at TCU on Oct. 27. Both teams have secured their seeds for the 2015 Big 12 Soccer Championship, as WVU will be the top seed and BU will be seeded No. 2.
“We know that this is going to be a tough game Friday night,” said Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “Baylor has had a great run in Big 12 play. They’re unbeaten in their last four matches, and they’ve found their groove. It’s going to be a battle, and we expect a tough environment, too.”
A win Friday night would give WVU back-to-back unbeaten seasons in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers have been unbeaten in three of their four seasons as members of the Big 12 Conference, and the team would be the first to go unbeaten in league play in three seasons.
WVU is 3-0-1 all-time against BU and has won the last three contests. Most recently, the Mountaineers defeated the Bears 2-0 in the 2014 regular-season finale on Oct. 31, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. In their first and only meeting in Waco, WVU walked away with a 4-3 victory over the then-No. 9 Bears on Sept. 29, 2013.
The Mountaineers enter Friday night riding a 15-match unbeaten streak. The squad ranks No. 1 in the NCAA with 13 shutouts, one short of the program single-season record. WVU is the only team nationally to rank in the top five in shutout percentage (No. 2, 0.765) and scoring offense (No. 4, 2.71).
Senior goalkeeper Hannah Steadman has earned credit for 10 of the team’s shutouts and ranks No. 2 nationally in goals-against average (0.288). WVU has allowed only five goals all season and only three since Aug. 23.
Senior forward Kailey Utley paces the squad with 24 points (9 G, 6 A). The St. Louis, Missouri, native has tallied the last three straight game-winning goals and ranks No. 4 nationally with six total. Sophomore forward Michaela Abam ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 with a team-best 10 goals, while junior midfielder Ashley Lawrence, the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, shows a team-best seven assists, the second-best total in the conference.
After opening the season 0-4, BU has gone 9-1-3 since. The Bears were picked to finish eighth in the 2015 Big 12 Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
BU ranks No. 2 in the conference with a 5.41 points-per-game average. Freshman forward Lauren Piercy, the reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Week, paces the team with 13 points (6 G, 1 A).
The Bears are third in the conference with a 0.762 goals-against average. Junior Sara Martinson shows a 0.682 goals-against average and has posted five shutouts and made 32 saves in 16 games.
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