PRINCETON, N.J. — Michaela Abam scored on a penalty kick in the 20th minute and No. 6 West Virginia won its nonconference finale 1-0 over La Salle on Sunday.
Thanks to a 28-2 shots advantage, the Mountaineers (7-2) stretched their win streak to three matches, all shutouts. They had beaten No. 20 Princeton on the same field Friday.
La Salle (5-3-1) became the third opponent this season to fail to earn a shot on-goal against WVU’s defense.
“Credit to La Salle, they had a good scout on us,” Mountaineers coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “We know teams are going to come out and play us hard, and we need to do a better job with that moving forward.
“Any time you disallow a team a shot on-goal, you know you’re closing gaps and not allowing any windows to strike balls. I’m proud of the way the backline handled itself in a tight game like this.”
The shutout was the Mountaineers’ sixth this season, all credited to sophomore Rylee Foster.
La Salle keeper Larisa Zambelli made four stops.
Abam’s scoring chance came as she jumped for a pass from Carla Portillo and was pushed by an Explorers defender.
“That poor kid was getting pulled down all game long,” Izzo-Brown said. “They were grabbing her jersey and throwing her to the ground. It was a tough game for Michaela, and I felt bad for her, but at the end of the day she put one on the board, and that’s all that matters.”