MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The four-time reigning Big 12 Conference champion West Virginia University women’s soccer team opens its spring season Saturday, March 19, with a 4 p.m. match against the Western New York Flash, at Sahlen Sports Park, in Elma, New York.

 

Saturday’s match is free and open to the public.

 

This marks the fourth straight spring-season meeting between the Mountaineers and the Flash, members of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

“It’s going to be great for us to play an opponent and not just ourselves,” Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “The team is really look forward to facing an opponent, especially one of professional caliber. Saturday’s match will be a great gauge for us as a team, as well as individually, as we move forward this spring.”

 

Saturday is WVU’s first of six spring matches and the lone contest scheduled for March. Among the 20 returnees are rising seniors Carly Black (defender), Kadeisha Buchanan (defender), Ashley Lawrence (midfielder) and Ashley Woolpert (defender).

 

The Mountaineers return to action following a 2015 campaign which saw the team capture its fourth straight conference regular-season title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 16th straight season. WVU tallied a program-best 19 victories en route to the team’s second-ever appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight, where the Mountaineers bowed out of the tournament with a 2-0 loss at eventual National Champion Penn State on Nov. 28. WVU finished the season ranked a program-best No. 7.