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The Way to San Jose
November 08, 2016 01:49 PM | Women's Soccer
How does a coach who has experienced as much success as Nikki Izzo-Brown has at West Virginia University learn something new about her soccer team?
Getting down 2-0 at halftime of the Big 12 championship game to a team it had defeated 3-0 just two weeks prior is one way.
This past Sunday, the No. 1-ranked Mountaineers were playing in slow motion when the Horned Frogs punched them right between the eyes, not once, but twice in a matter of 45 minutes. This team found out really quickly the West Virginia jersey they were wearing was not going to win this one.
So they had to dig deep within themselves to figure out a way to climb out of the giant hole they put themselves in.
“This team is extremely close. They are a team that loves to talk. They are a team that loves to be around each other. They are a team that really enjoys each other and sometimes they don’t challenge each other enough and sometimes it’s too much fun,” Izzo-Brown admitted. “But I found that this team really cared, and has a deep, deep love for each other because they fought, they battled and they had this incredible iron will and when coaches talk about being ‘in the zone’ we were in the zone.”
Indeed, West Virginia fought its way back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Horned Frogs, 3-2, in overtime. All three goals came from the Mountaineers’ three big-time, world-class players - Olympians Kadeisha Buchanan, Ashley Lawrence and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Michaela Abam.
If there is one criticism for this team that has achieved so much - a No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history, a No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament and a school-record 19 wins - it’s the impression that sometimes things have come a little bit too easy for it.
It went through its entire league schedule without giving up a goal, it tied defending national champion Penn State on the road and defeated Clemson, St. Francis, Ohio State and Duke, all teams in this year’s NCAA tournament.
The only adversity the Mountaineers had really faced this season was a double-overtime loss to Georgetown back on September 18 - that is until Sunday afternoon in Kansas City.
And this was strictly their own doing.
“They had never come from behind and that was an extremely important lesson to see how we would respond with two goals down being extremely fatigued,” explained Izzo-Brown, who has a 38-4-2 record over her last two seasons with this group of players. “I saw a lot and now my expectation for them is super high.”
So, how is this team different from Izzo-Brown’s others?
No. 1, it’s the most athletic team she has ever fielded at WVU with several top-level, world-class players.
You can be tough and dedicated and resilient and committed to each other and all of that, but if you can’t get to the soccer ball or you don’t have the leg strength to blow it past defenders or the technical skill to advance the ball past packed-in defenses, all of the toughness, dedication, resiliency and love for each other in the world can only get you so far.
This team has those big-time players in seniors Buchanan and Lawrence who have performed well so many times before on the biggest stages in soccer.
“My experiences with the Olympics and the World Cup helps a lot just playing at that level,” Lawrence noted. “I’m so grateful to be back with my West Virginia family to bring those experiences, but these players here are world-class players as well and they teach me stuff each and every day. They challenge me in practice and I think that’s so helpful.”
It has been helpful because the Mountaineers have faced a tactically challenging brand of soccer the last month and a half of the season.
Teams are basically shortening the field to 60 yards and forcing West Virginia to play a patient style, taking chances only when West Virginia takes chances.
Izzo-Brown explains.
“They only allow us to come to a certain point and we only get to play in a certain amount of space where usually you get to play the entire 120 yards,” Izzo-Brown said. “This team has had to find little spaces and find little opportunities here and there and be precise and be perfect in our passes.
“(Against TCU) we were only going east-west and we needed to go real north and real quick. TCU was keeping us tight and we needed to get dangerous and start taking risks and getting that ball forward as quickly as we could,” she said.
“A lot of teams at the beginning of the year came out blazing against us and we took those teams apart and they changed their tactics by settling in and making us really have to attack them and once they settle it’s tougher to score because they have all 11 players back,” Buchanan added. “Going into the NCAAs, we’ve had a lot of practice against both (styles) so no matter what formation they play I think we can find a way to win.”
Lawrence agrees.
“At the beginning they pressed us and we were able to release that pressure but it was challenging and we’ve had to adapt in many ways,” she said. “The credit goes to Izzo because she really prepared us along with the rest of the coaching staff. They’ve helped us with different tactics if this team plays us a certain way, well, this is how we are going to respond to it. Once teams sat back then we had to come up with a different strategy.”
Nikki knows this strategy well because that’s exactly what she once did to get her program established.
She knew should couldn’t match the personnel of some of the top teams she was facing in the Big East so she packed it in, made life frustrating for them and waited for opportunities to strike.
Now, she has the personnel to play any style of soccer, which is so critical when you reach a one-and-done situation in the national tournament.
And that is what makes this team so different from some of the others she has had.
“I’ve had great teams in the past, and you don’t like to look back and compare teams, but there is no denying every challenge this team has stepped up and found results,” she said. “In college athletics, results are what matters so this team is extremely special.”
In the end, the most successful teams are the ones that take on the personality of their head coach. Buchanan, considered one of the best players in the world, believes this team has done that this year.
“She’s definitely a tough coach,” she admitted. “I think we go out there and we battle and when she battles we battle. She’s like that type of mom who takes care of her child and takes care of her kids, and she takes care of her kids and she takes care of this team.”
Now, the time has come for Izzo-Brown’s big-time players to step up and take care of business and get this program beyond the Elite Eight.
That’s the way to San Jose for West Virginia.
“I think what separates this team from the others I’ve been on is the way we love each other,” Buchanan admitted. “I think that plays a key role because we always want to fight for each other and I think it’s just the belief we have in one another. I think belief is a really key thing to have in a team and once we believe I think we’re unstoppable.”
The journey begins against Northern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.
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Thursday, October 30
