2018 Preseason Notebook

Photo by: Brian Persinger / WVU Photograph

August 13, 2018 02:48 PM | Women's Soccer

By: Shannon Wolfgang

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – At long last, it's game week.

Following a nine-month offseason, the No. 9-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team returns to competition this week, as the Mountaineers travel to University Park, Pennsylvania, for their almost-annual season opener against No. 4-ranked Penn State on Friday, Aug. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at Jeffrey Field.

Never a team to back away from a challenge, the Mountaineers have faced a ranked opponent in their season-opening match seven times since 2010. In fact, Friday marks WVU's third straight season opener against a top-five ranked team on the road; the Mountaineers drew No. 2 PSU, 1-1 (2OT), on Aug. 19, 2016, and defeated No. 5 Georgetown, 1-0, on Aug. 18, 2017.

Learn more about the program's 23rd team in this year's 2018 Preseason Notebook.

All-Big 12 Backline Returns
Despite the loss of 2017 co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Amandine Pierre-Louis, the Mountaineer backline is arguably the team's strongest unit, as four All-Big 12 athletes return.

Senior outside back Bianca St. Georges, as well as classmate center backs Easther Mayi Kith and Vanessa Flores, stand in front of junior Rylee Foster in net.

St. Georges, a 2017 United Soccer Coaches All-Region Second Team honoree, as well as an All-Big 12 First Team honoree and the 2015 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, has started 59 of 60 career matches played. Mayi Kith and Flores, All-Big 12 Second Team honorees one year ago, have started a combined 95 matches.

Foster has emerged as one of the nation's top net-minders, allowing just 22 goals in two seasons. She has started in 40 career matches and shows a 0.55 career goals-against average (GAA), the top career mark in program history. At the end of the 2017 season, Foster's career GAA ranked No. 5 nationally among active Division I players. Additionally, her 20 career shutouts ranked No. 30.

In 2017, the Mountaineer defense posted 13 shutouts and allowed just 16 goals for a 0.67 GAA.

Attack by Committee
With the loss of forward Michaela Abam to graduation, WVU looks for a new offensive leader, as Abam paced the team in points each season since 2014.

Tops among the Mountaineers' returning attackers is senior forward Sh'nia Gordon. A native of Ocklawaha, Florida, Gordon has started all 73 career matches and shows a team-best 16 career goals and 45 career points. In 2017, Gordon paced the Mountaineers with seven assists, a career single-season high and the third-best total in the Big 12 Conference, and finished second on the team, 10th in the Big 12, with 15 points (4 G, 7 A).

Classmate Hannah Abraham also will be tasked with producing points in 2018. A Fairchance, Pennsylvania, native, Abraham has started 17 of 71 career matches and shows 24 career points (9 G, 6 A). She tallied five points in 2017 and a career single-season best 10 points (4 G, 2 A) in 2016, including four game-winning goals, the fourth-best total in the Big 12 Conference and No. 61 nationally.

Sophomore forward Lauren Segalla is expected to see more playing time in her second season. An All-Big 12 Freshman Team honoree in 2017, she played in 22 matches and finished eighth on the team with six points (3 G).

Though she is a staple on the Mountaineers' backline, senior defender Bianca St. Georges also is key in setting up WVU goals, finishing third on the team in 2017 with six assists, the fifth-best total in the Big 12. She tallied three helpers against conference foes, the second-best mark in the conference, and finished the year with 10 points (2 G, 6 A).

Also expected to contribute to the Mountaineer attack this season are senior midfielders Grace Cutler and Patricia Fernandez, as well as sophomore midfielder Lois Joel.

Challenges Await Mountaineers
For the third time in four years, at least half of WVU's 18-match slate is comprised of teams that qualified for the most recent NCAA Tournament. Included in the 2018 schedule are meetings against 10 NCAA qualifiers, including quarterfinalists Penn State and Baylor.

WVU also will kick against the Big Ten and Big East Conference champions in PSU and Georgetown, as well as the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference runners-up in Northwestern and Arkansas. All four matches will take place in the first three weeks of the season.

Eight of the Mountaineers' matches are scheduled for Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, including four Big 12 Conference matches.

WVU opens the 2018 slate with four straight matches away from Morgantown, including the season-opener at Penn State on Aug. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Last season, WVU defeated then-No. 1 PSU, 2-1, on Sept. 2, at Dick Dlesk Stadium, before falling, 3-1, to the No. 10 Nittany Lions in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 19, also in Morgantown.

The Mountaineers open their Big 12 Conference slate with a two-match swing through Texas in September, kicking at Texas Tech on Sept. 21, before traveling to Fort Worth for a match at TCU on Sept. 23. WVU opens its home conference slate against Kansas State on Sept. 28.

Mission: Bring Back the Big 12 Titles
The Mountaineers suffered a slight step back in 2017 in their quest for dominance in the Big 12 Conference, as WVU just-missed claiming its sixth straight regular-season crown and was eliminated by TCU in a penalty-kick shootout in the Big 12 Championship Semifinals.

Since joining the conference in 2012, WVU has claimed eight Big 12 titles. The Mountaineers are 42-2-4 in regular-season matches, good enough for a 0.917 win percentage, the best mark over a six-year span for any team in Big 12 history.

WVU owns a 23-0-2 record in Big 12 matches at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. Dating back to 2009, the Mountaineers are unbeaten in their last 39 home conference matches. The streak ranks No. 3 nationally.

Fearless Leader
Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown returns in 2018 for her 23rd season with the Mountaineers. Since the program's inception in 1995, Izzo-Brown has never had a losing season as a head coach and has led WVU to 18 straight 10-plus win seasons and 18 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, the seventh-longest active streak nationally. She boasts a 325-107-49 (.727) career record with the Mountaineers and ranks No. 12 among active coaches in career win percentage and No. 16 in career wins.

Izzo-Brown enters the 2018 season with several big career milestones looming. Dating back to her one season as the head coach at West Virginia Wesleyan (1994), she has coached in 499 career matches, meaning WVU's opener at Penn State on Aug. 17 will be Izzo-Brown's 500^th career match as a college head coach. Additionally, she is just 12 victories short of 350 career wins.

Senior Class Pulls Rank
At nine players strong, the 2018 Mountaineer senior class is the largest in program history. The eight returners are joined by newcomer Nadya Gill (midfielder), a three-year starter at Quinnipiac. The 2015 MAAC Rookie of the Year, she also was a two-time NSCAA All-Northeast Second Team honoree.

The class breathes rarified air, as this group of seniors has never played on a WVU team ranked outside the top 15 of the coaches' poll. Including the 2018 United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll, the Mountaineers have been ranked in the top 10 in each of the last 40 editions of the coach's poll, a streak which started on Sept. 8, 2015. In 24 of those 40 polls, WVU has sat within the top-five rankings.

Only Stanford has a longer streak of top-10 rankings.

Make Way for the Newcomers
Eleven newcomers join the Mountaineers this season, including two transfers in senior midfielder Nadya Gill (Quinnipiac) and sophomore defender Kayla Morrison (Virginia).

Six of the 11 newcomers arrived in Morgantown in January and trained with the Mountaineers throughout the spring: Gill, Morrison and freshmen Addison Clark (midfielder), Lizzie Mayfield (forward), Mara Rodriguez (midfielder) and Nahla Turner (goalkeeper).

Also donning the Gold and Blue for the first time this season are freshmen Mackenzie Aunkst (forward/defender), Jordan Brewster (forward/defender), Aiyana Lauderman (forward), Issy Sibley (forward) and Alina Stahl (forward/defender).