WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The No. 18 West Virginia women’s soccer team remained winless through four matches but stopped No. 19 Northwestern’s three-game win streak with a scoreless draw Sunday at the Boilermaker Challenge Cup.
Playing in their third straight double-overtime match, the Mountaineers (0-1-3) held a 32-6 edge in shots over the Wildcats (3-0-1) but none found the net. WVU has been shutout twice in the season’s first two weeks.
“We know we were good enough to win today,” Mountaineers coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “We’re hitting posts, and we’re creating chances. The ball is going to go in. Unfortunately, we played a great game today, we just didn’t finish.”
The Mountaineers nearly capitalized in the first overtime off a free kick in the 95th minute when Grace Cutler’s header skimmed the net outside the left post.
West Virginia had a point-blank chance of the second overtime but Sh’Nia Gordon’s shot near the penalty line was stopped by Northwestern goalkeeper Mackenzie Wood, who made 10 saves.
The Mountaineer onslaught started in the second half with Wood making three saves in the eight minutes after the break. Northwestern’s best chance came in the 83rd minute when Brenna Lovera latched onto a cross in the box, but her header only grazed the top crossbar.
WVU also earned an 11-1 edge in corner kicks.
Men: UNC Wilmington 1, WVU 0
At Charleston, S.C., the Mountaineers got a career-best six saves from Steven Tekesky but Emil Elveroth scored the decisive goal on a ball in through the middle in the eighth minute.
WVU (1-1) managed 18 shots, five more than the Seahawks (2-0).
“We made a major mistake to allow their goal on a miscommunication between our back and our goalkeeper, and their guy finds an open net to pass it into,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “But we had some fantastic chances ourselves, including missing the open side of the goal.”