2017 Preseason Notebook
August 15, 2017 04:21 PM | Women's Soccer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One more step.
The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team ended the 2016 season knowing it needed to be one step better. Losing to No. 7 USC, 3-1, in the NCAA College Cup Final, the Mountaineers were so close to hoisting the NCAA Championship trophy for the first time in program history.
The first step to a better ending starts this Friday, as WVU officially opens its 2017 season on Aug. 18 at No. 5 Georgetown, with kick from Shaw Field in Washington, D.C., set for 4 p.m.
Still Hungry
Following a 2016 season, which saw the Mountaineers advance to the NCAA College Cup for the first time in program history, WVU returns to competition still hungry to achieve the squad’s ultimate goal – win a national championship.
Fifteen letterwinners and nine starters return in 2017 and look to build on the team’s NCAA national runner-up finish. Tops among the returners are five seniors: forwards Michaela Abam and Heather Kaleiohi, midfielders Alli Magaletta and Carla Portillo and defender Amandine Pierre-Louis.
The Mountaineers finished with a program- and nation-best 23 wins. Additionally, the squad swept the Big 12 Conference titles for the third time in four years. The WVU defense posted a program- and nation-best 18 shutouts and recorded a shutout season in Big 12 play.
Challenges Await Mountaineers
The Mountaineers will face one of the most difficult schedules in the program’s 22-year history this fall, as nine of the team’s opponents qualified for the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Included in the schedule are matches against top-25 opponents in three of the first four weeks, as well as an annual match against Penn State, the 2015 National Champion.
“This is easily one of our toughest schedules ever,” Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “I believe that this returning group is ready for the challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing how this team embraces these opportunities.”
Eleven matches are scheduled for Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, including five Big 12 Conference matches.
Big-Time Offensive Threats Return
Paced by three-time reigning leading team scorer Michaela Abam, a 2017 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy candidate, the Mountaineer offense returns an incredible 85 percent of the 52 goals scored in 2016 return this year.
Abam led WVU last year with a career-best 12 scores. A member of the 2016 NSCAA All-America Second Team and the co-Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, she finished the season with a team-best and career single-season high 33 points (12 G, 9 A). Her assist total, also a career single-season best, ranked No. 2 on the team. Abam ranked tops in the Big 12 Conference in points, goals and game-winners (5) and No. 2 in assists. She also ranked No. 24 nationally in points and No. 25 in game-winning goals.
Abam ranks No. 8 all-time in program history with 32 career goals and needs 21 to match the school record. She also ranks No. 9 all-time with 77 career points and needs 48 to match the WVU record.
Also returning are senior midfielder Carla Portillo, a 2016 NSCAA All-Central Region Second Team and All-Big 12 First Team honoree, and junior forward Sh’Nia Gordon. The duo ranked No. 3 on the team last season with 17 points each. The mark was a career single-season best for both. Gordon finished second on the team with seven goals, while Portillo chipped in five.
Senior forward Heather Kaleiohi and junior forward Hannah Abraham also return following double-digit point totals in 2016. Kaleiohi finished with 14 points (6 G, 2 A), while Abraham tallied 10 (4 G, 2 A). All four of Abraham’s scores were game-winners.
Backline Tough to Break
For the second straight season, the WVU defense rewrote the record book, recording a nation-best 18 shutouts in 2016. Included in the total were eight clean sheets in Big 12 Conference regular-season play, and the Mountaineers became the first team in league history to post a shutout season.
Junior Easther Mayi Kith looks to anchor the backline following the graduation of 2016 MAC Hermann Trophy winner Kadeisha Buchanan. Returning alongside Mayi Kith are senior Amandine Pierre-Louis, an All-Big 12 honoree last year, and junior Bianca St. Georges, the 2015 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
Sophomore Rylee Foster, a 2016 NSCAA All-Central Region Second Team honoree, as well as an All-Big 12 Second Team and Freshman Team member, returns in goal. Available for 17 matches last season, she is credited with eight of the team’s shutouts and finished with a 0.42 goals-against average (GAA), the best single-season total in program history. Her GAA ranked No. 1 in the conference and No. 7 nationally.
First-Year Mountaineers
Eleven freshmen join the Mountaineers for the 2017 season, including three who have played for their national teams: midfielder Issy Coombes (New Zealand) and defenders Lois Joel (England) and Grace Smith (England).
Also donning the Gold and Blue for the first time this season are forwards Stefany Ferrer and Lauren Segalla, midfielder Malia Kaleiohi, defenders Danielle Gordon, Lexi Mitchell and Chloe Zamiela and goalkeepers Kayla Thompson and Ashley Triplett.
Big 12 Target
Since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2012, the Mountaineers have claimed eight conference titles, including all five regular-season championships, becoming the first program in Big 12 history to win five straight outright championships. Additionally, the team swept the league titles in 2016 for the third time in four seasons.
WVU has gone unbeaten in conference regular-season play in each of the last three years and owns a 35-1-3 all-time record in Big 12 action. The squad is unbeaten at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
Dating back to its days in the Big East Conference, WVU has won six straight conference regular-season crowns and 10 since its first title in 2002. The Mountaineers have won 11 regular-season and conference titles in seven years and 16 since 2002.
Taking Names
For the last 12 years, WVU has earned at least one win against a top-10 team each season. The Mountaineers earned a program-high four wins against top-10 foes in 2016. WVU is 17-13-3 against top-10 teams and 28-29-10 against all ranked opponents since 2005.
Morgantown Magic
The Mountaineers have developed a true home field advantage, going 119-18-14 at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium since its opening in August 2004.
WVU shows a 34-match unbeaten streak in conference games in Morgantown and has not dropped a league contest since losing 3-2 in overtime to No. 8 Notre Dame on Oct. 2, 2009. The streak ranks No. 3 nationally. WVU is 19-0-1 all-time in home Big 12 matches.
The Mountaineers played in front of more than 23,000 fans in 14 home games in 2016 and set seven top-10 attendance mark, including a season-high mark of 2,471 for WVU’s 1-0, double-overtime win against Ohio State on Nov. 18 in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The crowd was the second largest women’s attendance mark in stadium history. WVU finished the year ranked No. 4 nationally in accumulate attendance (23,131) and No. 7 in average attendance (1,652). Both numbers were tops in the Big 12 Conference.
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