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WVU women pull away from TCU for 5th straight Big 12 title

West Virginia’s Sh’Nia Gordon controls a pass during Friday night’s 3-0 win at TCU, which clinched the Big 12 women’s title.

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Michaela Abam’s goal off a corner kick ricochet in the 52nd minute sent the No. 1 West Virginia women on their way to a 3-0 win at TCU that clinched yet another Big 12 regular-season title.

Carla Portillo and Grace Cutler tacked on scores as the Mountaineers (14-1-1, 6-0) posted their 300th win overall and became the first team in conference history to win five consecutive outright championships.

“This team has 100-percent kept its focus this year,” said West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “I’m so proud of the way they came out this season and battled to put us in the place where we could win the Big 12 title tonight.

“I know this team isn’t done. They still want to keep pushing ahead and accomplish all the goals they set out for this year.”

WVU has won seven Big 12 titles and 15 conference titles in all, each during Izzo-Brown’s 21-year tenure.

The Horned Frogs (8-5-2, 0-5-1) became the sixth straight Big 12 opponent to suffer a shutout against the Mountaineers backline. The clean sheet was WVU’s 10th of the season, five short of the program record set in 2015.

TCU’s Katie Lund made seven saves, but after a scoreless first half, Abam connected on a hard, low shot for her team-best eighth goal of the season. The play, which started on the team’s fourth corner kick sent the ball bouncing inside the box, Kadeisha Buchanan got a foot on it and sent it to Abam, who turned and placed her shot toward the left corner.

“I give TCU a lot of credit – they really came out and disrupted us in the first half,” Izzo-Brown said. “We were relentless, though, and we kept putting pressure on them. The team made some great second-half adjustments and found a way to score three goals.”

The Mountaineers made it 2-0 just 14 minutes later when Sh’Nia Gordon was fouled 3 yars outside the penalty box and Portillo connected on the ensuing free kick.

WVU’s third goal came off the head of Cutler, who buried a cross from Heather Kaleiohi.

“All credit to West Virginia, they are a good team and deserving of the No. 1 ranking in the country,” said Frogs coach Eric Bell.

The Mountaineers finished with an 18-3 edge in shots and forced Lund into seven saves, all in the first half. The squad also earned a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.





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