No. 1 Mountaineers Shutout Princeton

Friday, September 16

Morgantown, W.Va.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

7-0-1

Princeton

6-1

Team	1	2	Final F
PRINCETON	0	0	0
West Virginia	1	2	3

main-magaletta-91616.jpg

September 16, 2016 10:48 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Princeton Tigers

6-1

Final

1 West Virginia Mountaineers

7-0-1

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Taking the field for the first time in program history as the No. 1-ranked squad, the West Virginia University women's soccer team walked away a winner, as the Mountaineers pushed their win streak to seven and handed Princeton its first loss of the season with a 3-0 victory tonight in front of 1,946 fans at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

The win, which came in front of the fifth-best women's soccer crowd in stadium history, pushed the Mountaineers' unbeaten home streak to 30, the 11th best all-time NCAA mark.

"This crowd was incredible tonight," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown enthused. "They bring our team so much energy. We can hear the crowd over on the bench, and it gets us going. It's incredible that they're behind us. I can't speak enough about the fans and how they keep pushing us with that energy."

Though it took WVU (7-0-1) nearly 41 minutes to score tonight, the match was never in doubt, as the Mountaineers enforced their physical will on the Tigers (6-1), holding Princeton to just nine shots and two corner kicks.

"This team always has a good energy. They knew how important this game would be, especially playing at home against an undefeated Princeton," Izzo-Brown said. "They just really enjoy playing competition and a team like Princeton. I don't know if they were tight; I just think they were excited and we couldn't put a couple away early."

Junior Michelle Newhouse made a career-high five saves for the team's fourth shutout of the season and the first of her career. While Newhouse was solid, no save was bigger than the Mountaineers' team save in the 50th minute. Riding a 1-0 lead, sophomore Sh'Nia Gordon kicked away a chance by defender Jesse McDonough at the right post off the Tigers' first corner kick of the night.

The Mountaineers finished with a 20-9 edge in shots and forced the Tigers into seven saves, five credited to Natalie Grossi. WVU also earned a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.

Junior transfer Alli Magaletta's first goal in a Mountaineer uniform will go down as a game-winner, as the midfielder gave WVU the lead for good in the 41st minute.

Pressing all half, the Mountaineers finally got the chance they needed, as a hard foul on Hannah Abraham outside the box resulted in a free kick. Junior midfielder Carla Portillo sent the kick toward the net, but it slammed off the crossbar. The rebound fell just outside the goal box, and senior Ashley Woolpert headed the ball into the air. Fighting Tigers for position, Magaletta got her head on the ball and sent it past Grossi toward the right post.

The assist was the first career point for Woolpert.

"A team like Princeton, the longer you keep them around, the more dangerous they become," Izzo-Brown said. "We knew that. It was frustrating, but we finally put one away in the first half. We couldn't get a couple in that we wanted in earlier."

WVU quickly pushed its lead to two goals early in the second half, as leading scorer Michaela Abam connected on an easy opportunity for her fifth goal of the season. The play in the 52nd minute started with a nice push forward from junior defender Amandine Pierre-Louis to Gordon. The forward then sent a beautiful cross toward the far right post and a waiting Abam put it away.

The Houston native and reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week now shows a team-best 11 points (5 G, 1 A) on the season.

For the second straight game, the Mountaineers' third score came via a penalty kick. Portillo again jump-started the scoring play, sending a through ball to a streaking Ashley Lawrence up the right side of the field. As Lawrence pushed ahead, Tiger midfielder Natalie Larkin gave chase from behind before taking the quick senior midfielder down. Lawrence shook off the foul and stepped up to the penalty-kick line and connected for her first goal of the season.

WVU is now 2-for-2 on penalty kicks this year.

Less than a minute before Lawrence's goal, junior forward Heather Kaleiohi nearly gave WVU its third score, but after receiving a great cross from Abam, her low shot in-stride went just right of the near post.

Princeton earned the early chances of the night, but nothing of quality. Midfielder Vanessa Gregoire took a quick shot inside the 18 in the third minute, but Newhouse was there for her first save. Forward Tyler Lussi followed with her own chance just two minutes later, but again Newhouse came up with the stop.

Ranked third in the nation with a 1.17 goals/game average, the Mountaineer defense held Lussi, the two-time reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, to just four shots, with only one landing on-frame.

The Mountaineers earned three corner kick within the first nine minutes of the match, and the team's first quality look came off the third corner, as Pierre-Louis earned a shot at the top of the box, but her low look banged off the left post.

Riding the three-goal lead in the second half, Abam nearly tallied her second score of the night off an uncontested header, but her chance from 10-yards out was saved by Grossi.

Abam paced the field with three shots on-goal.

With the win, the Mountaineers improve to 2-1 all-time against Princeton. The squad is now seven wins short of program victory No. 300.

The Mountaineers return to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium Sunday afternoon for their fifth match in as many weeks against a ranked opponent, as they will kick against No. 9 Georgetown (7-1) at 1 p.m. It's Youth Soccer Day, and all youths under the age of 13 who wear a youth soccer jersey will receive free admittance. A free soccer clinic will follow the match at the stadium, weather permitting.

Tickets for the weekend finale are available now at WVUGAME.com. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for youths under the age of 13 and senior citizens and $2 for groups of 10 or more. WVU students are admitted free with a valid WVU Student I.D.

Due to the Morgantown Marathon this weekend, fans are only permitted to park in the lower Shell/Natatorium lot/Band lot, adjacent to the track, on Sunday. The lot will only be accessible off Monongahela Blvd. Parking and access to the upper Coliseum parking lots from the Patteson Drive and Evansdale Drive/Arboretum entrances is prohibited.