MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After scoring the game-winning goal against No. 7 Georgetown, in Akron, Ohio, sophomore midfielder Tucker Stephenson of the West Virginia University men’s soccer team has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.
Stephenson’s goal, his first of the year and third of his career, came at 80:52, giving the Mountaineers a 1-0 victory over the Hoyas, on Sunday, August 28.
The play began in WVU’s end with junior defender Louis Thomas, who brought the ball in along the near sideline. At the corner of the 18, Thomas passed the ball toward the endline to freshman defender Sebastian Garcia-Herreros, who sent it in toward the center of the box. It was immediately tipped by a diving Georgetown defender, but the ball found its way to Stephenson, who was about 10-yards out and coming in toward the center of the field.
Stephenson’s strike went straight in on the left side of the net, narrowly avoiding the diving Hoya keeper. Coming off the bench in the match, Stephenson had a game-high three shots and two shots on goal to lead a strong WVU offensive attack.
This Week in Women’s Soccer: The No. 4 Mountaineers (3-0-1) extend their homestand at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium against a pair of Big Ten Conference teams … WVU will face Purdue on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m., and No. 21 Ohio State on Sunday, Sept. 4, at 6 p.m. … all tickets for Thursday’s match are available for $1 each.
Last Week in Women’s Soccer: WVU opened its 2016 home season with a commanding 1-0 victory over No. 8 Clemson on Aug. 26 in front of 2,019 fans … the Mountaineers followed the victory with a 3-1 win against Saint Francis on Aug. 28 … on Friday, junior defender Amandine Pierre-Louis netted the lone goal in the 57th minute, beating two defenders before sending a shot near the penalty line toward the far upper right corner of the net … WVU finished an 18-6 edge in shots and 8-2 advantage in shots on-goal … Clemson earned a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks, and freshman Rylee Foster played all 90 minutes in net … on Sunday, sophomore forward Sh’Nia Gordon scored twice, a career single-game best, and senior defender Kadeisha Buchanan netted the game-winner in the 55th minute … SFU got on the board first in the 16th minute … junior goalkeeper Michelle Newhouse earned her first career start in net and finished with one save … WVU tallied a 43-3 edge in shots, denying SFU a shot in the second half, and finished with 17 shots on-goal.
Notes: Friday’s meeting was the first-ever contest between WVU and Clemson … with the win over the Tigers, the Mountaineers have now earned at least one win over a top-10 team in each of the last 12 seasons … WVU held Clemson to just two shots on-goal; the Tigers entered the weekend averaging 2.5 goals a game … the Mountaineers’ attendance mark Friday night was the fourth-best in program history … Sunday marks the first time this season WVU has trailed in the first half … Buchanan’s goal was her first of the year … with the two wins, WVU owns a 27-match unbeaten streak at DDSS.
This Week in Men’s Soccer: The Mountaineers return home on Saturday, Sept. 3 for their home opener against Princeton … kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium … admission will be free for all fans … a free live stream, courtesy of CityNet, and live stats can be found on WVUSports.com.
Last Week in Men’s Soccer: WVU opened the season against a pair of top-10 teams, falling to No. 9 Seattle, 2-0 in the season-opener before a 1-0 upset against No. 7 Georgetown on Sunday in Akron, Ohio … sophomore Tucker Stephenson netted the game-winner as WVU beat a top-10 foe for the first time since beating No. 8 Indiana in 2013 … junior Louis Thomas and freshman Sebastian Garcia-Herreros netted assists on Stephenson’s goal … it was Garcia-Herreros’ first assist of his collegiate career.
Notes: Sunday’s win against the seventh-ranked Hoyas is the highest-ranked team West Virginia has beaten since taking down No. 1 UConn at home in 2011 … it is WVU’s first win against a top-10 foe since the Mountaineers won at No. 8 Indiana in 2013 and the first neutral-site ranked win since 2011 against No. 11 Virginia … junior goalkeeper Jose Santos won his first match with the Gold and Blue on Sunday, while Sebastian Garcia-Herreros recorded his first collegiate assist.
Coach Marlon LeBlanc on Sunday’s upset win over No. 7 Georgetown: “Our guys were tremendous today. Our team performance from start to finish was excellent. We executed the game plan, using 18 guys that were all on the same page. All the credit goes to the players. We had a lot of the game today, had a lot of great possessions and created a lot of chances. This was a game where we had to grind, and we knew it was going to be a grind.”
This Week in Volleyball: The Mountaineers head to Charleston for the Capital Classic … WVU and Marshall will co-host the tournament Friday and Saturday at the Charleston Civic Center … the Mountaineers will get things started at 10 a.m. on Friday with a match vs. Indiana State before taking on the rival Thundering Herd on Friday at 7:30 p.m. … a 10:30 a.m. match against Morehead State on Saturday will close things out for West Virginia.
Last Week in Volleyball: The volleyball team opened the season at the Penn State Classic in University Park, Pennsylvania, last weekend … the Mountaineers went 1-2 at the tournament … freshman Payton Caffrey led the way in a 3-0 loss to No. 9 Penn State, scoring 18 kills and hitting .400 in her collegiate debut … Caffrey added 17 more kills along with 11 digs for her first double-double, and Haley Roe tallied 23 assists in the team’s 3-0 loss to No. 19 North Carolina on Saturday … Hannah Shreve had eight kills and eight blocks, while Caffrey again finished as the team leader with 11 kills as the team registered its first win of the season with a 3-0 sweep of Georgia Southern.
Notes: Freshman Payton Caffrey finished as the team leader with 5.11 kills per set this weekend, ranking second in the Big 12 … Caffrey had 46 total kills with six blocks and hit .287 in three matches … libero Gianna Gotterba averaged a team-best 4.00 digs per set on the weekend … senior middle blocker Hannah Shreve hit .353 with 2.00 kills per set and 1.44 blocks per set … WVU hit .155 with 100 team kills and 25.0 team blocks … five rookies saw the court, while two – Caffrey and Natania Levak – made their way into the starting lineup … Caffrey was named to the Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team.
Coach Reed Sunahara after the team’s win against Georgia Southern: “We improved a lot from our first set against Penn State to now. We still have some things to work on, but we’re headed in the right direction. I think the opportunity to come and play in a tournament of this caliber was a great learning experience for our program.”
This Week in Cross Country: The Mountaineers open the 2016 season with the WVU Alumni Open on Thursday, September 1, at the Mon River Rail Trail ... last year, the team had a total of 22 runners on the 4k trail, seven of which were alumni.
Last Season in Cross Country: At the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championships, Millie Paladino was the lone qualifier for WVU, where she placed 77th overall ... the team placed third at the 2015 Big 12 Championship, with three Mountaineer underclassmen posting top-25 finishes ... WVU placed fifth at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional in a field of 30 teams, and Paladino and senior Savanna Plombon earned all-region honors for their top-25 finishes ... twelve Mountaineers were named to the 2015 Academic All-Big 12 First Team.
Notes: Leading this year’s squad will be juniors Amy Cashin, Maggie Drazba, Allie Diehl, Jillian Forsey, Brynn Harshbarger and Rebecca Wendt and seniors Peyton Hampson, Megan Yuan and Brianna Kerekes ... West Virginia adds three newcomers to the 2016 roster - Abby Colbert, Antigone Archer and Sarah Wills.
Coach Sean Cleary on the WVU Alumni Open: “We’ll have a fun opener with the alumni meet. It will bring together some of the past runners in the program and give us a very light introduction into the season. We did it last year, and I thought it went well.”
