Photo by: Caroline Bond
Mountaineer Women Conclude Regular Season Spring Slate at No. 12 Virginia
April 07, 2021 01:49 PM | Women's Soccer, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The fifth-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team will wrap up regular-season play on Saturday at No. 12 Virginia.
It's the sequel to last Saturday's 1-0 Mountaineer victory in Morgantown that boosted their overall record to 10-2. West Virginia got a late goal from Isabella Sibley against the Cavaliers to give it a second straight victory over a top 10-ranked team.
The prior Saturday, the Mountaineers outlasted fifth-ranked Duke 3-2 at Dick Dlesk Stadium.
Those two wins now put West Virginia in great shape for the 48-team NCAA Tournament taking place at different locations in North Carolina in late April.
There are 16 fewer teams than usual in this year's NCAA tournament field, which will be announced on Monday, April 19. First-round matches will be played April 27-28 with second-round matches following on April 30- May 1.
The third round will be played on May 5 with the quarterfinals scheduled four days later on May 9. The semifinals are slated for Thursday, May 13 with the finals taking place on Monday, May 17.
The Thursday-Monday College Cup matches will take place at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
On-campus venues for early-round games will be at Campbell, East Carolina, UNC Wilmington, UNC Greensboro and Wake Forest. Off-campus venues include Bryan Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex in Wilson, North Carolina, and Sportsplex in Matthews, North Carolina.
Seeded teams will receive first-round byes.
"Obviously, I'd like it to be 64, but we have to be flexible and open-minded this year," West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said earlier this week. "I'm thrilled that we get to play. You don't get to experience another (tournament) game at home, but this setup makes sense with safety first."
It's going to be really interesting to see how this year's tournament takes shape with only 17 at-large spots available. That means some really good teams are going to be left out of this year's tournament.
TCU, which defeated West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament championship game in Fort Worth, Texas last November, is already in as the Big 12's automatic qualifier.
Vanderbilt (SEC), Florida State (ACC) and South Alabama (Sun Belt) also get automatic bids for winning their league tournaments in the fall. All but four conferences, including the Pac-12 and Big Ten, did not compete last fall and will conclude their regular seasons in mid-April. The Big Ten is not playing any nonconference opponents this spring and will determine its automatic qualifier with a conference tournament the third weekend of April.
Pac-12 schools were permitted to play four non-league opponents in addition to a regular season conference schedule, but the league will not have a postseason tournament. Its automatic qualifier will be determined by the regular season champion.
Thirty-one conference champions will earn bids to this year's NCAA Tournament.
It's anyone's guess as to how the tournament selection committee will make heads or tails of this. The NCAA website is publishing RPIs this year despite limited intraconference play, so it's basically useless.
We think Penn State, Ohio State and Rutgers from the Big Ten are good this year, but how good? The Nittany Lions are ranked one spot below West Virginia in this week's coaches poll, but are only 38 in the RPI.
The Buckeyes are ranked 22 but have an RPI of 46. Rutgers also spent some time in the rankings, yet is sitting at 84 in the RPI with a 6-2-3 record. Wisconsin is another Big Ten team having a decent season in conference play, but is barely in the top 100.
It will be interesting to see how the selection committee chooses to deal with the Big Ten. It will also be interesting to see how the power conferences, which normally get multiple bids, will fare on selection Monday this year. Izzo-Brown felt good about her team's chances of making the tournament after finishing second in the Big 12 last fall, but that didn't mean her December and January weren't stressful trying to put together a spring schedule.
Her main concern was not scheduling her team out of the NCAA Tournament.
"There were some teams we couldn't play," she admitted. "We didn't have the AQ so I was nervous just because I'm conservative. Us having the year we did in our confidence gave some of those schools in the ACC confidence to play us this spring."
Oklahoma State's spring schedule could be an issue for the Cowgirls, ranked 18th this week but likely on the tournament bubble. OSU (11-3-1) defeated an undermanned West Virginia team last fall and has solid wins this spring over St. Louis and North Texas, but probably needs to beat Notre Dame this Sunday to enhance its tournament resume. The Irish, at 6-5, are not going to make this year's field of 48.
Some Big 12 teams played each other again this spring to fill out their schedules, an option that wasn't geographically feasible for West Virginia. So in that regard, being so close to quality ACC schools really helped the Mountaineers.
Consequently, the spring ended up working out well for West Virginia, who count matches against Saint Joseph's, Duke and Virginia (twice) on its overall record. Izzo-Brown also scheduled exhibition games against Akron and the professional team Racing Louisville FC to keep her players sharp.
"We had to get a result out of these three games (Duke and Virginia), and we had to get better," she explained. "We're all going up against these conference teams (in the NCAA Tournament) that have been playing full league schedules this spring, and we've had to put ourselves under the gauntlet a little bit, too."
The Big Ten and Pac-12 could either be really sharp and battle tested, or worn down and banged up when the NCAA Tournament starts. Izzo-Brown said she is not sure which will be the case.
"We can have either discussion about that right now," she said.
At any rate, the Duke and Virginia victories put West Virginia in great shape for the tournament, and another win over the Cavaliers on Saturday should likely lock up a national seeding for the Mountaineers.
"With Duke and Virginia, even if we lost all three, it wouldn't have hurt us," Izzo-Brown noted.
One other big concern Izzo-Brown had this spring was schedule spacing. She wanted enough time between matches in case her team ran into COVID-19 issues, which is why the regular season is ending this Saturday, nine days before selection Monday.
Virginia, meanwhile, is probably in this year's tournament with a 10-3-1 overall record, but with only 17 at-large spots available the Cavs don't want to take any chances and will be geared up to beat West Virginia on Saturday.
Izzo-Brown thought last Saturday's win over Virginia was really important for her young team.
"We had to back up that (Duke) win, and I was so proud of them because either team could have won on Saturday," she said. "I think that result just shows that we're pretty good right now. We're right in it.
"Last year was such a rebuilding year even though we went to the Sweet 16," Izzo-Brown continued. "We weathered a lot last year. We got beat up in conference, we had injuries hit us and we were so youth-heavy in the front end. Now, we're a little bit more mature so these kids have experienced a lot."
Including a rare shutout last Saturday against a top-quality opponent.
"(Monday) we're in film and we're talking, and I asked them, 'What did you think of the game? What were some of the positives?' It was like a funeral. I'm like, 'We just shut out the No. 10 team in the country!' I must have done a terrible job clipping," she laughed. "I guess it's good they were not satisfied, but I was fired up.
"Virginia has so much talent on that team, and I was thrilled. Now, we've got to match that performance and some on Saturday!" she concluded.
It's the sequel to last Saturday's 1-0 Mountaineer victory in Morgantown that boosted their overall record to 10-2. West Virginia got a late goal from Isabella Sibley against the Cavaliers to give it a second straight victory over a top 10-ranked team.
The prior Saturday, the Mountaineers outlasted fifth-ranked Duke 3-2 at Dick Dlesk Stadium.
Those two wins now put West Virginia in great shape for the 48-team NCAA Tournament taking place at different locations in North Carolina in late April.
There are 16 fewer teams than usual in this year's NCAA tournament field, which will be announced on Monday, April 19. First-round matches will be played April 27-28 with second-round matches following on April 30- May 1.
The third round will be played on May 5 with the quarterfinals scheduled four days later on May 9. The semifinals are slated for Thursday, May 13 with the finals taking place on Monday, May 17.
The Thursday-Monday College Cup matches will take place at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
On-campus venues for early-round games will be at Campbell, East Carolina, UNC Wilmington, UNC Greensboro and Wake Forest. Off-campus venues include Bryan Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, J. Burt Gillette Athletic Complex in Wilson, North Carolina, and Sportsplex in Matthews, North Carolina.
Seeded teams will receive first-round byes.
"Obviously, I'd like it to be 64, but we have to be flexible and open-minded this year," West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said earlier this week. "I'm thrilled that we get to play. You don't get to experience another (tournament) game at home, but this setup makes sense with safety first."It's going to be really interesting to see how this year's tournament takes shape with only 17 at-large spots available. That means some really good teams are going to be left out of this year's tournament.
TCU, which defeated West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament championship game in Fort Worth, Texas last November, is already in as the Big 12's automatic qualifier.
Vanderbilt (SEC), Florida State (ACC) and South Alabama (Sun Belt) also get automatic bids for winning their league tournaments in the fall. All but four conferences, including the Pac-12 and Big Ten, did not compete last fall and will conclude their regular seasons in mid-April. The Big Ten is not playing any nonconference opponents this spring and will determine its automatic qualifier with a conference tournament the third weekend of April.
Pac-12 schools were permitted to play four non-league opponents in addition to a regular season conference schedule, but the league will not have a postseason tournament. Its automatic qualifier will be determined by the regular season champion.
Thirty-one conference champions will earn bids to this year's NCAA Tournament.
It's anyone's guess as to how the tournament selection committee will make heads or tails of this. The NCAA website is publishing RPIs this year despite limited intraconference play, so it's basically useless.
We think Penn State, Ohio State and Rutgers from the Big Ten are good this year, but how good? The Nittany Lions are ranked one spot below West Virginia in this week's coaches poll, but are only 38 in the RPI.
The Buckeyes are ranked 22 but have an RPI of 46. Rutgers also spent some time in the rankings, yet is sitting at 84 in the RPI with a 6-2-3 record. Wisconsin is another Big Ten team having a decent season in conference play, but is barely in the top 100.
It will be interesting to see how the selection committee chooses to deal with the Big Ten. It will also be interesting to see how the power conferences, which normally get multiple bids, will fare on selection Monday this year. Izzo-Brown felt good about her team's chances of making the tournament after finishing second in the Big 12 last fall, but that didn't mean her December and January weren't stressful trying to put together a spring schedule.
Her main concern was not scheduling her team out of the NCAA Tournament.
"There were some teams we couldn't play," she admitted. "We didn't have the AQ so I was nervous just because I'm conservative. Us having the year we did in our confidence gave some of those schools in the ACC confidence to play us this spring."
Oklahoma State's spring schedule could be an issue for the Cowgirls, ranked 18th this week but likely on the tournament bubble. OSU (11-3-1) defeated an undermanned West Virginia team last fall and has solid wins this spring over St. Louis and North Texas, but probably needs to beat Notre Dame this Sunday to enhance its tournament resume. The Irish, at 6-5, are not going to make this year's field of 48.
Some Big 12 teams played each other again this spring to fill out their schedules, an option that wasn't geographically feasible for West Virginia. So in that regard, being so close to quality ACC schools really helped the Mountaineers.
Consequently, the spring ended up working out well for West Virginia, who count matches against Saint Joseph's, Duke and Virginia (twice) on its overall record. Izzo-Brown also scheduled exhibition games against Akron and the professional team Racing Louisville FC to keep her players sharp.
"We had to get a result out of these three games (Duke and Virginia), and we had to get better," she explained. "We're all going up against these conference teams (in the NCAA Tournament) that have been playing full league schedules this spring, and we've had to put ourselves under the gauntlet a little bit, too."
The Big Ten and Pac-12 could either be really sharp and battle tested, or worn down and banged up when the NCAA Tournament starts. Izzo-Brown said she is not sure which will be the case.
"We can have either discussion about that right now," she said.
At any rate, the Duke and Virginia victories put West Virginia in great shape for the tournament, and another win over the Cavaliers on Saturday should likely lock up a national seeding for the Mountaineers.
"With Duke and Virginia, even if we lost all three, it wouldn't have hurt us," Izzo-Brown noted.
One other big concern Izzo-Brown had this spring was schedule spacing. She wanted enough time between matches in case her team ran into COVID-19 issues, which is why the regular season is ending this Saturday, nine days before selection Monday.
Virginia, meanwhile, is probably in this year's tournament with a 10-3-1 overall record, but with only 17 at-large spots available the Cavs don't want to take any chances and will be geared up to beat West Virginia on Saturday.
Izzo-Brown thought last Saturday's win over Virginia was really important for her young team.
"We had to back up that (Duke) win, and I was so proud of them because either team could have won on Saturday," she said. "I think that result just shows that we're pretty good right now. We're right in it.
"Last year was such a rebuilding year even though we went to the Sweet 16," Izzo-Brown continued. "We weathered a lot last year. We got beat up in conference, we had injuries hit us and we were so youth-heavy in the front end. Now, we're a little bit more mature so these kids have experienced a lot."
Including a rare shutout last Saturday against a top-quality opponent.
"(Monday) we're in film and we're talking, and I asked them, 'What did you think of the game? What were some of the positives?' It was like a funeral. I'm like, 'We just shut out the No. 10 team in the country!' I must have done a terrible job clipping," she laughed. "I guess it's good they were not satisfied, but I was fired up.
"Virginia has so much talent on that team, and I was thrilled. Now, we've got to match that performance and some on Saturday!" she concluded.
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