KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 1-ranked and top-seeded West Virginia University women’s soccer team opens the 2016 Big 12 Soccer Championship against No. 8-seeded Texas Tech on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 12:30 p.m. ET, at Swope Soccer Village.
The quarterfinal match will be streamed at Big12Sports.com.
The Mountaineers (16-1-1, 8-0) seek championship redemption against the Red Raiders (9-7-2, 2-6) Wednesday afternoon, as TTU knocked WVU out of the championship last season with a 1-0 win on Nov. 5, 2015. The Red Raiders went on to win their first-ever championship title.
“Texas Tech is a very dangerous team,” Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, the five-time reigning Big 12 Coach of the Year, said. “They’re playing for their (NCAA) lives right now, and we know how hard they’re going to come after us. It’s going to be a great match.”
WVU is 4-2 all-time against TTU and 0-1 against the Red Raiders at the Big 12 Soccer Championship. The five-time reigning Big 12 regular-season champion Mountaineers show a 6-2-1 all-time record at the championship since joining the conference in 2012. The team won the 2013 and 2014 Big 12 Soccer Championship titles.
Most recently, WVU defeated TTU, 1-0, on Oct. 14, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. Sophomore forward Hannah Abraham came off the bench and delivered the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute; the score was her fourth game-winner of the year. The Mountaineers finished with a 29-5 edge in shots and forced TTU goalkeeper Lauren Watson into eight saves. Freshman Rylee Foster made one save for the shutout.
The Mountaineers ride a nine-match win streak into the Big 12 Championship, with the last eight victories shutouts against conference opponents. WVU is the first team in conference history to post a shutout season in league play. The team is one clean sheet short of matching the program’s shutout streak of nine, set last season.
Anchored by senior center back Kadeisha Buchanan, the four-time reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, WVU held all but Texas to two shots on-goal or less this season. The Mountaineers have allowed six opponent goals all year, the second-fewest allowed nationally, and rank No. 2 in the NCAA with a 0.327 goals-against average (GAA).
The Mountaineer attack is paced by junior forward Michaela Abam, the 2016 co-Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. The Houston native ranks third in the conference with 20 points on eight goals, the second-best mark in the Big 12, and four assists. Junior midfielder Carla Portillo follows Abam on the stat sheet with 14 points (4 G, 6 A).
The Red Raiders earned their spot in the championship with a 1-0 double-overtime win at Oklahoma on Oct. 28, in Lubbock, Texas. Freshman forward Jade King tallied the golden goal in the 104th minute. Lauren Watson made two saves for her sixth shutout of the year.
King paces TTU with 13 points (6 G, 1 A). Watson has allowed 18 goals in 18 starts and shows a 0.97 GAA.
Should the Mountaineers win Wednesday, they will face the winner of Oklahoma – Iowa State on Friday, Nov. 4, at 5:30 p.m. ET, at Swope Soccer Village.
