MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The yellow brick road West Virginia has traveled to this year’s College Cup has a tinge of blue in it - blue as in full of blue bloods.

 

The Mountaineers first knocked off blue blood UCLA in the Sweet 16, and then blue blood Duke in the Elite Eight.

 

Now, West Virginia is facing the bluest blood of them all - North Carolina - in Friday’s first national semifinal match at 5 p.m. ET at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. The other semifinal match immediately following will feature Georgetown and USC.

 

What the Tar Heels have been able to accomplish in 38 years in women’s soccer - all under Anson Dorrance - is beyond comprehension.

 

His teams have won 21 national titles, including nine in a row from 1986-94, capturing an amazing 91 percent of their matches since the program’s inception in 1979.

 

“Anson is definitely someone that you have to respect for what he’s done,” West Virginia’s Nikki Izzo-Brown, now 308-102-46 in 21 seasons at WVU, said. “Winning isn’t easy and I don’t care who you are or what you have. I just really appreciate what he’s done for women’s soccer and how much notoriety he’s brought to the game. Anson is someone who has been at the forefront of our sport, so I have a ton of respect for him.”

 

By comparison, today’s so-called Gold Standard for women’s college sports - Geno Auriemma’s Connecticut women’s basketball program, thanks to nearby ESPN - has garnered 11 national titles and won 88 percent of their games.

 

Think about this: old Geno still has 10 more national titles to go to match what Dorrance has done in his sport with the Tar Heels.

 

Besides North Carolina, there have been just 10 different programs win national championships in the 34 years the NCAA has sponsored women’s soccer.

 

Notre Dame (three) and Portland (two) are the only other programs besides North Carolina with multiple titles.

 

Furthermore, just reaching the women’s College Cup is like being invited into a secret society for teams not named North Carolina, Notre Dame, Santa Clara, Florida State, UCLA or Portland.

 

Before this year, only 30 (out of 334) could claim that distinction.

 

Now two more can be added to the list - No. 1-ranked West Virginia and No. 5-ranked Georgetown, West Virginia’s only loss this year.

 

“I think parity has happened,” Izzo-Brown said. “I think kids are making choices differently now. I think North Carolina is still incredibly strong and has a tremendous program, I just think there are many more opportunities now and I think that’s played into it. There is great coaching everywhere; great programs and athletic departments are investing more in women’s programs now.”

 

West Virginia, for instance.

 

Izzo-Brown, in her 21 seasons at WVU, has built the Mountaineer program from the ground up. She won 13 games at West Virginia Wesleyan while earning an MBA in 1994, took the West Virginia job in 1995 and spent that year organizing a club team while working out of a Coliseum bathroom that was converted into an office.

 

Then she got her brains beat in for four years in the Big East before finally developing a team good enough to make the NCAA tournament in 2000.

 

Since then, she’s been back every year.

 

“I would never do it again,” she laughed. “I’m too old. But I’m thankful for this opportunity to be able to build a program. Not many people have stayed in the same place. When I took the job I knew West Virginia was a special place, it just needed special people to win a national championship.”

 

She has found them in Canada.

 

“It made sense,” she said. “It’s five and a half hours away; it’s great soccer. I had a friend up there that I knew was developing kids the right way. Then once you get one and they are extremely happy it’s pretty incredible how many more you get. Word travels fast. I’ve been very fortunate the kids that I have gotten from Canada absolutely love West Virginia and everything about it.”

 

Twice, in 2007 and again last year, Izzo-Brown had teams good enough to reach the Elite Eight. Her ’07 team had Canadians Amanda Cicchini and Deana Everrett on it. Another batch of Canadians got the Mountaineers back to the Elite Eight last year.

 

Now, she’s made it to the College Cup with seven Canadian players in the starting lineup and two - Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence - who rank among the best young players in the world.

 

To reach Sunday’s championship game, they are going to have to knock off the bluest of blue bloods on Friday evening.

 

“I don’t think our girls have felt that it’s North Carolina or Duke or UCLA,” Izzo-Brown admitted. “We’ve played some big names this year, so I don’t really think that we’re necessarily afraid of the name. I think what we’ll be cautious of is some of their strengths.

 

“The names haven’t made this team flinch and I’ll be honest, most of our Canadians don’t understand what the difference is,” Izzo-Brown explained. “They just want to win, so I guess that’s my strength.”