No. 7 Mountaineers Cruise Past Cyclones - West Virginia University Athletics

Friday, October 13

Morgantown, W.Va.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

12-3, 5-1

Iowa State

2-11-2, 0-5-1

Team	1	2	Final F
Iowa State	0	0	0
West Virginia	1	3	4

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

October 13, 2017 10:27 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score Season Stats Photos

By: Shannon McNamara

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – An early score and three second-half goals helped the No. 7-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team cruise to a 4-0 win over Iowa State tonight at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

The Mountaineers (12-3, 5-1) connected on three of their season-high 13 corner kicks, including the team's second of the night in the seventh minute, as senior midfielder Alli Magaletta headed her chance home for her first game-winner of the year.

"That was huge – what a momentum boost for our team early in the match," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "Tonight was about two teams fighting for their lives in the Big 12 Conference, and Alli Magaletta, a big-time senior, stepped up and finished for us".

WVU's win, its fourth straight, pushes its unbeaten home streak against Big 12 Conference opponents to 23, a conference record. The previous record of 22 was held by Nebraska and Texas and stood for seven seasons.

Dating back to 2009, the Mountaineers are now unbeaten in their last 37 home conference matches, the third-longest active streak in the nation.

Magaletta's goal, her second of the season, came off the first kick from junior defender Bianca St. Georges. Waiting near the far-left post, Magaletta swiftly headed the ball toward the back of the net. The goal came just 6:15 into the match for the third-fastest game-winner of the season.

After earning just one more on-frame attempt the first half, the Mountaineers quickly found their insurance goal in the second half, as senior forward Michaela Abam tallied her team-best fifth score of the season in the 49th minute.

Junior forward Sh'Nia Gordon jump-started the play, sending the ball wide for classmate Grace Cutler. She quickly pushed it toward the end line before sending a cross to Abam, who ran up on the ball inside the six-yard box before finishing toward the far-right post.

Abam's goal is her 37th career score, and she continues to rank No. 5 in program history. Her point total moved to 90 (37 G, 16 A), and she now ranks alone at No. 6 in the Mountaineer record book.

Senior forward Heather Kaleiohi pushed WVU to a 3-0 lead in the 65th minute off the team's eighth corner kick. Senior midfielder Carla Portillo sent the ball in, and Kaleiohi immediately headed it behind ISU's Antonia Reyes from three-yards out.

Freshman forward Lauren Segalla punctuated the team's scoring onslaught in the 72nd minute with her own header, connecting on Amandine Pierre-Louis' corner kick, WVU's 10th of the night, at the far-right post.

"Iowa State did a great job denying us anything in front of them, and we had to create opportunities in the attack," Izzo-Brown added. "I thought the team did a great job finding space and creating corners when we didn't have a whole lot of space behind them."

Abam, Kaleiohi and Segalla have tallied goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Eight different Mountaineers factored into WVU's scores.

The Mountaineers finished with a 25-6 edge in shots and forced Reyes into three saves.

The WVU defense denied the Cyclones (2-11-2, 0-5-1) a shot on-goal. ISU is the fourth team this season and the first Big 12 opponent to not put a shot on-frame. The clean sheet is WVU's ninth of the season and third in conference play. The Mountaineers have posted a shutout in nine of their last 11 home Big 12 matches.

"We knew how dangerous Iowa State is, and we knew No. 18 (Klasey Medelberg) was everything we had been seeing," Izzo-Brown explained. "We had to play tight and close up the gaps."

Sophomore Rylee Foster played 76:44 in between the posts before freshman Kayla Thompson played in relief.

Magaletta nearly finished with her first career two-goal game tonight, as she got her head on WVU's seventh corner kick in the 62nd minute. The on-frame attempt cruelly hit the crossbar and went out of play.

ISU's lone corner kick of the match resulted in a chance for the Cyclones in the 75th minute, as forward Hannah Cade headed the ball toward the net from the penalty line, but her attempt went wide right.

Win the win, WVU improves to 6-0 all-time against ISU.

The Mountaineers return to competition on Thursday, Oct. 19, with kick against Texas Tech at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium set for 5 p.m.