Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Redshirt senior forward Lauren Segalla tallied the first brace of her career to lift the No. 13-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team to a 4-0 win over Iowa State and begin the 2021 Big 12 Conference campaign at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Friday night.
 
Along with two scores from Segalla, junior midfielder Juliana Lynch and sophomore forward/midfielder AJ Rodriguez also found the back of the net against the Cyclones, while senior midfielder Isabella Sibley recorded a pair of assists in the victory. Defensively, the Mountaineers (7-2-1) recorded their fifth clean sheet of the campaign, holding Iowa State to just three shots on goal. Segalla's 28th minute, game-winning strike was the seventh of her career and second in as many games.
 
"Any time you can put four goals on the board, you have to be pleased, and to turn around and have a shutout on top of that was a total team performance," WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "Obviously, Iowa State was good, and they had a couple opportunities, but I was just happy that Lauren (Segalla) led us with those two goals. More importantly, we got our three (conference) points, and we got our shutout."
 
In the early going, it looked like the ISU offense was taking control of the match, creating quality possessions and the first clean looks of the match. However, soon after the Cyclones forced junior goalkeeper Kayza Massey to make two key saves, Segalla delivered the spark the Mountaineer offense needed to run away with the match. At the 27:02 mark, Sibley sent the ball inside the box to Segalla, who was able to send it toward the far post and sneak it inside the net.
 
From there, the WVU offense came alive, dominating the possession for much of the rest of the half. West Virginia would go on to tally four more shots, with two on frame, before the 45-minute mark, but ultimately took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
 
Out of the half, the Mountaineers didn't let up in search of another score. It wasn't long until they found it, as Sibley tallied her second helper of the match when she found Lynch just outside the 6-yard box. Lynch's touch was timed perfectly, and WVU went up by a pair just seven minutes into the second half.
 
Next, it was time for Segalla to earn her brace off a loose ball in the box. Junior Maya McCutcheon got a toe on the ball to give it some momentum, and Segalla backheeled it to put it past ISU keeper Jordan Silkowitz. Riding a comfortable lead, West Virginia didn't stop there, tallying one more insurance score when Rodriguez got her head on a rebound off the crossbar, giving WVU the impressive, 4-0 victory to open conference play.
 
In the win, West Virginia led Iowa State in every category, including 16-5 in shots, 11-3 in shots on goal and 6-1 in corner kicks. Segalla led the offense with four shots on the night, while she became WVU's 125th two-goal scorer in program history and first to record a brace since senior Alina Stahl scored two against Saint Joseph's on March 7, 2021. With a two assists in Friday's win, Sibley became the first Mountaineer to tally a pair of helpers in a single game since Oct. 30, 2020.
 
Additionally, Massey added three saves for West Virginia to record her third shutout of the season.
 
Following the victory, WVU moves to 10-0 all-time against the Cyclones, its second-most wins over any other Big 12 opponent. Opening Big 12 play Friday night, the Mountaineers also improve to 9-0-1 all-time in Big 12 season openers.
 
Coming up, the Mountaineers continue their homestand on Friday, October 1, hosting Oklahoma in a 7 p.m. ET, matchup at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in Morgantown. The match will be streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
 
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