MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The WVU women’s soccer coach said the win over Duke to get her team to the final four for the College Cup did not come easy.
“You do do some tactics and change up your defensive shape. You don’t want to get stretched too much. So, we definitely were trying to do a couple things different,” reflected Nikki Izzo-Brown. “Duke was a heck of a team. Obviously they were in the national championship game last year. They put the heat on us.”
West Virginia will be in San Jose, Calif. Friday for a match up with perennial power North Carolina in the national semifinals.
A half-time pep rally and send off for the team is scheduled for the WVU men’s basketball game Monday night in Morgantown.
It may be the first chance the team will have to let the success thus far actually sink in.
“As we’ve talked all along on this journey, there have been so great moments. You just have to keep putting them on the shelf and say we’ll celebrate that later. We have to get ready for North Carolina now. We have to get ready for UCLA. We have to get ready for Duke,” Izzo-Brown told MetroNews “Talkline” host Hoppy Kercheval.
First ranked WVU defeated Duke in a 1-0 game to advance to its first NCAA College Cup in program history.
“We talk a lot about the opportunity, three times a year to hoist a trophy. We did that in the regular season of the Big XII with the tournament championship in the conference. This is the last one they want to do. We’re taking it 2 more games but one game at a time,” remarked Izzo-Brown.
The Mountaineers and Tarheels will kick off Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern. North Carolina has 22 national championships on record.
“North Carolina has been the dynasty of national champions. We’re going to have our hands full. But, we’re excited to do our West Virginia soccer and get after them.”
The team travels Tuesday to give players a chance to adjust to a time zone change.
“It’s the end of the year. Everyone is kind of nicked up. Everyone’s got bruises and pains here and there and heavy legs. But these ladies know what’s at stake. And, they’re going to have that mental toughness ready.”
The College Cup is being aired on ESPNU.