MANHATTAN, Kan. – Behind senior forward
Taylor White's third brace of the season, the West Virginia University women's soccer team (10-2-3, 5-0-3 Big 12) collected a 3-2 win over Kansas State at Buser Family Park in Manhattan on Sunday afternoon.
White was once again the hero for West Virginia, as she scored late back-to-back goals in the 82nd and 84th minutes to help WVU tally the win. The brace marked the fifth for the squad this season, while White pushed her season goal total to 10 on the year. She becomes the first Mountaineer to tally double-digit goals in a season since Michaela Abam scored 10 in 2017.
Additionally, White's game-winning goal in the 84th minute marked her fourth of the year and eighth game winner of her Mountaineer career.
With the win, WVU reached 10 wins on the season for the 28th time in program history.
The Mountaineers struggled to maintain possession in the early going, with the Wildcats creating significantly more opportunities in the first half, which ultimately led to their breakthrough goal in the 30th minute. However, WVU got on the board right before the half with freshman forward
Kailyn Effah's second goal of the season. The Bowie, Maryland, native collected a loose ball inside the 6-yard box and knocked it in for the equalizer to send the teams to the locker room tied at 1-1.
Out of the break, the two teams battled to find the equalizer, with the defensive fronts of both sides stepping up to keep the other off the scoreboard. With 10 minutes to play, West Virginia earned a corner kick. Junior midfielder
Maya Leoni took the kick and found White in the box who tapped it in for the go-ahead score.
Then, just under two minutes later, White received a long ball from junior defender
Olivia Shertzer and took a long shot from just outside the 18. Her shot was out of reach for the K-State keeper and went into the net for the insurance tally. The insurance goal would pay off in the 86th minute when the Wildcats got one back to make the score 3-2, but it wasn't enough as West Virginia secured its 10th win of the season.
Kansas State outshot WVU 14-10 and led 5-3 in shots on goal. The Mountaineers earned eight corner kick opportunities compared to just four for K-State. White took three total shots in the match, scoring on two of them. Redshirt junior goalkeeper
Bailey Herfurth notched three saves in the win.
With the victory, West Virginia remains unbeaten all-time against Kansas State and improves to 8-0-1 against the Wildcats, including 4-0-1 in games played in Manhattan.
After wrapping up the road portion of its regular season schedule on Sunday, the Mountaineers now return to Morgantown for a three-game homestand to finish the 2025 slate. The stand begins against Iowa State on Thursday, Oct. 23. The match is slated as Soctoberfest and True Blue, with kickoff at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
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