MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In less than 48 hours, the No. 5-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team will open its 2016 season exactly where it ended its 2015 season – Penn State University’s Jeffrey Field.

 

In a yearly battle that always lives up to the billing, the Mountaineers will travel tomorrow to University Park, Pennsylvania, and kickoff their year against the No. 2-ranked and defending National Champion Nittany Lions on Friday, Aug. 19, at 7:30 p.m. Thoughts of revenge could be lingering within many Mountaineers’ minds, as PSU halted WVU’s remarkable run through the 2015 NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight with a 2-0 defeat on Nov. 28.

 

Eighteen letterwinners return for 21-year coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, including four seniors: 2016 Olympians and repeat Hermann Trophy hopefuls Kadeisha Buchanan (defender) and Ashley Lawrence (midfielder), defender Carly Black and forward/midfielder Ashley Woolpert.

 

Year after year, coach Nikki Izzo-Brown challenges the Mountaineers with one of the nation’s hardest schedules, and 2016 is no different, as the team will meet seven squads that qualified for the 2015 NCAA Tournament, including matches against reigning National Champion Penn State and runner-up Duke on their home fields.

 

“While the 2016 schedule is tough, if falls right in line with our scheduling philosophy, which is to play the best nonconference competition we can to prepare us for conference play,” Izzo-Brown, the four-time defending Big 12 Coach of the Year, said. “Mission accomplished this year. We feel this is one of the toughest slates we have put together in 21 seasons. We made the conscious decision to play some of the nation’s top teams.”

 

In total, WVU, coming off an NCAA Elite Eight season in 2015, will face three teams from the Big Ten Conference and two from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), including Clemson, the ACC’s third-place team last year and a No. 2 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, in its home opener on Aug. 26 at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

 

WVU opens the year at Penn State on Friday, Aug. 19; the Mountaineers dropped a 2-0 decision at PSU in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight on Nov. 28. WVU earned the upper hand in the regular-season meeting, defeating the Nittany Lions, 1-0, in Morgantown on Sept. 4.

 

Additionally nonconference road-match highlights include a showdown at Duke on Sept. 9 and a match at Richmond on Sept. 23.

 

WVU competes in Morgantown 10 times in 2016. Following its home opener against the Tigers, the Mountaineers will compete against 2015 NCAA Tournament qualifiers Ohio State on Sept. 4, Princeton on Sept. 16 and Georgetown on Sept. 18.

 

WVU opens the defense of its four straight Big 12 Conference regular-season titles at home against Baylor on Sept. 30. The Mountaineers also will face Oklahoma, Texas Tech, the defending Big 12 Conference Tournament champions, and Oklahoma State in Morgantown this season. WVU will travel on two conference road swings, playing at Kansas State and Iowa State Oct. 7-9, and TCU and Texas Oct. 21-23.

 

The 2016 Big 12 Soccer Championship begins with quarterfinal play on Nov. 2, with the semifinals and the final following on Nov. 4 and Nov. 6. For the fourth straight year, all matches will be played at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

The first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament will begin on Nov. 11-13, with all matches held on campus sites. The 2016 Women’s College Cup will be held Dec. 2-4, at WakeMed Soccer Park, in Cary, North Carolina.

 

Following a record-breaking 2015 season, the WVU women’s soccer defense returns partially intact but fully committed to the same objective – denying opponent goals.

 

Back to anchor the Mountaineer defense for the fourth straight season is three-time NSCAA All-American and three-time reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, senior center back Kadeisha Buchanan. Under her leadership, the WVU backline has allowed just 50 opponent goals since 2013, including a program-low 11 in 2015, the same season the unit also posted a school-record 15 shutouts.

 

Also returning this season is sophomore Bianca St. Georges, the reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, as well as senior Carly Black and Easther Mayi Kith. Black started 52 straight career matches prior to suffering a season-ending injury in 2015. Mayi Kith replaced her in the lineup and started the remaining 15 matches.

 

The Mountaineers will be forced to replace goalkeeper Hannah Steadman and outside back Maggie Bedillion in the lineup. Junior Michelle Newhouse should step in between the posts. The Pinch, West Virginia, native has seen time in eight matches since 2014 and shows two career saves.

 

The Mountaineers return 59 percent of the record-setting 61 goals scored in 2015. At the top of the list is junior forward Michaela Abam. An All-Big 12 First Team honoree last season, she paced the team and ranked No. 2 in the conference with 12 goals, a career-high total. She also ranked No. 2 on the team, No. 3 in the Big 12, with 27 points (12 G, 3 A). Among her many highlights was a WVU record four-goal performance in the team’s 8-0 victory over Villanova on Sept. 6. The eight points also were a team single-game record.

 

Senior midfielder Ashley Lawrence will again play into the Mountaineers’ offensive success. An NSCAA All-America First Team honoree one year ago, she ranked No. 3 on the team in 2015 with 18 points (5 G, 8 A). The eight helpers were a team and career high, and she ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 with a 0.36 per game average. Lawrence’s career assist total stands at 19, one short of breaking onto the all-time program list.

 

Sophomore forward Sh’Nia Gordon should once again factor into the team’s scoring production. The All-Big 12 Freshman Team honoree started all 23 matches in 2015 and finished tied for fourth on the team with 13 points (5 G, 3 A). Also returning is junior midfielder Carla Portillo, who started 21 matches and finished with 10 points (3 G, 4 A).

 

Expected to factor more into the Mountaineers’ offensive plans this season are top returning reserves from 2015, junior forwards Amandine Pierre-Louis and Heather Kaleiohi. Pierre-Louis finished 2015 with 12 points (4 G, 4 A), while Kaleiohi contributed six points (2 G, 2 A).

 

Entering her 21st season as the only WVU women’s soccer head coach, Nikki Izzo-Brown is just one victory short of career win No. 300.

 

Izzo-Brown’s 21-year coaching record stands at 299-106-44 (.715). Before founding the WVU women’s soccer program in 1995, she spent one season at West Virginia Wesleyan in 1994.

 

The WVU women’s soccer program’s all-time record stands at 286-101-44 (.715), and the Mountaineers need just 14 victories in 2016 to reach win No. 300.

 

Izzo-Brown has posted a winning record in all 20 seasons with the Mountaineers and has led WVU to 10 wins or more each year but 1999. WVU earned a program-record 19 victories in 2015.

 

For the second straight season, defender Kadeisha Buchanan and midfielder Ashley Lawrence, both seniors, were named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List. College soccer’s version of the Heisman Trophy, the award represents the highest level of individual achievement in the sport.

 

The 2016 recognition was the third straight for Buchanan and the second straight for Lawrence. This is the fourth time since 2007 WVU has had two student-athletes land on the first list of the season. Nine different Mountaineers have been named to the initial Watch List 14 times since 2003. WVU also had had six semifinalists, including Buchanan and Lawrence. Buchanan was the program’s first finalist last year and the only finalist to return to the list this year.

 

NSCAA All-America First Team honorees one year ago, the duo played for Canada at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.

 

The Mountaineers carry an important streak into 2016, as the squad has defeated at least one top-10 team in each of the last 11 seasons. WVU is 13-11-2 against top-10 teams and 22-27-8 against all ranked opponents since 2005.

 

2015 ............ No. 5 Penn State .......................................W, 1-0

2014 ............ at No. 9 Kansas ...........................................W, 2-0

2013 ............ at No. 9 Baylor .............................................W, 4-3

2012 ............ No. 1 Stanford ..............................................W, 1-0

2012 ............ No. 7 Oklahoma State ..................................W, 1-0

2011 ............ No. 9 Marquette ...........................................W, 3-1

2010 ............ No. 9 Virginia................................................W, 1-0

2009 ............ at No. 9 Rutgers ...........................................W, 1-0

2009 ............ at No. 8 Penn State ......................................W, 2-1

2008 ............ No. 7 Virginia................................................W, 3-0

2007 ............ at No. 6 Penn State ......................................W, 1-0

2006 ............ at No. 7 Penn State ......................................W, 2-1

2005 ............ at No. 9 Marquette .......................................W, 2-0

 

The Mountaineers have developed a true home field advantage, going 107-17-13 at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium since its opening in August 2004.

 

WVU is unbeaten in its last 25 straight home matches and has not lost a contest since a 2-0 defeat to No. 21 Duke on Aug. 29, 2014. Additionally, the Mountaineers show a 30-match unbeaten streak in conference games at DDSS and have not lost a league contest since falling 3-2 in overtime to No. 8 Notre Dame on Oct. 2, 2009.

 

WVU is 15-0-1 in all-time home Big 12 matches.

 

WVU’s 2016 regular-season schedule features just one first-time opponent in Clemson. The Mountaineers will face the Tigers in their home season opener at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Friday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m.

 

The Mountaineers went 6-0 against first-time opponents in 2015. In the program’s 20-year history (moving into the 2016 season), WVU has faced 106 different teams.

 

Six student-athletes will don the Gold and Blue for the first time in 2016: transfers Grace Cutler (forward, Santa Clara) and Alli Magaletta (midfielder, Missouri), as well as freshmen Amanda Burns (midfielder), Rylee Foster (goalkeeper), Jade Gentile (midfielder/forward) and Brooke Myers (goalkeeper).