No. 13 Mountaineers Drop Heartbreaker

Thursday, October 25

Morgantown, W.VA.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

11-4-3, 7-2

Kansas

11-5-2, 5-4

OT 1

Kansas

West Virginia

Photo by: Jennifer Shephard

October 25, 2018 10:34 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score Season Stats Photos

By: Shannon Wolfgang

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 13-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team closed its 2018 regular season in heartbreaking fashion, losing 1-0 (OT) to Kansas tonight at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

With a win clinching at least a share of the Big 12 Conference regular-season title, the Mountaineers (11-4-3, 7-2) held off a tough Jayhawk (11-5-2, 5-4) side in the first half and built solid chances throughout the second half, but a golden goal from Katie McClure in the 98th minute ended the match.

"Kansas did a great job in midfield and moved the ball well," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "We really haven't seen that in a while. It's a huge compliment to Kansas – their ball movement was very good tonight."

KU's attack was the toughest WVU faced from a Big 12 opponent this season, as the Jayhawks finished with 11 shots, five on-goal, and seven corner kicks. The Mountaineers outshot KU, earning 14 looks, and forced Jayhawk goalkeeper Sarah Peters into eight saves, five in the second half. Junior Rylee Foster made four saves, her best showing since stopping five in a 2-0 loss to No. 11 Georgetown on Sept. 2.

The Mountaineers also earned seven corner kicks.

"We hope that all our lessons have been learned," Izzo-Brown added. "This one hurt tonight. We have to learn from it and move on. We need more fire in our belly for what we have on Sunday."

McClure paced the field with five shots, while teammate Grace Hagan tallied a game-high three shots on-goal. WVU midfielders Nadya Gill and Addison Clark finished with a team-best two shots on-goal each.

KU's game-winning sequence started with a failed clearance by WVU. Hagan pushed the ball forward, and with a step on the Mountaineer defense, McClure took a running shot from the penalty line. Off her line, Foster batted the ball up and over, and it trickled behind her and into the lower right pocket.

Foster came up big two minutes before the golden goal, as she stopped a header from Hagan on KU's seventh corner kick of the night. She quickly sent the ball wide, and senior forward Sh'Nia Gordon pushed it ahead before crossing it to senior defender Bianca St. Georges on the near sideline. St. Georges then carried the ball into the box before directing it to the near-right post. A streaking Lauren Segalla got a piece of the ball at the post, but Peters came away with it.

The Mountaineers' best chance of the night came early in the second half. Off a give-and-go from Segalla in the 54th minute, senior forward Hannah Abraham earned a look inside the box. Defended, the Fairchance, Pennsylvania, native sent a hard shot above the penalty line toward the frame; Peters stood her ground for the catching save.

Two minutes later, St. Georges sent a deep cross into the box that Peters redirected. Abraham nearly tipped the ball through the defense before KU kicked the ball to the top of the box. Clark immediately sent a shot back in, but Peters was there for another save.

Senior defender Amanda Saymon had the Mountaineers' last chance of the second half in the 79th minute, finding the ball through traffic inside the box before directing a left-footed shot toward the line that was stopped by Peters.

Clark put the first shot on-frame tonight, as her ball five-yards above the box curved toward the goal line. Peters stood her ground and made the catching save in the 16th minute.

KU looked dangerous in the 18th minute. McClure earned the first shot, a low, sliding attempt at the right post that was blocked. Hagan pounced on the deflection at the opposite post, and her chance was blocked out by St. Georges.

Foster was called into action three times in the first half. Her first save of the match came in the 21st minute on a curving shot by McClure. Four minutes later, she dove to stop a curving shot by Hagan, who came calling again in the 42nd minute, but Foster stopped her close-range shot at the right post.

Tonight's loss is the Mountaineers' first in the all-time series against KU. WVU continues to own a 7-1 advantage.

The Mountaineers will next travel to Kansas City, Missouri, for the 2018 Big 12 Soccer Championship, set for Oct. 28 and Nov. 2-4, at Swope Soccer Village. WVU finishes second in the conference for the second consecutive season and will play as the No. 2 seed Sunday, Oct. 28, in a match slated to kick at 6:30 p.m. EST. The Big 12 will announce all final pairings later tonight.