(Nikki Izzo-Brown pregame interview)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Through the first nine games of the season, the WVU women’s soccer team posted a 3-3-3 record. Their prospects for a return to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year absence were uncertain.
Since a 2-0 loss at Georgetown on September 17, West Virginia is 8-1-4 and a new Big 12 Tournament trophy has been installed at the team’s practice facility. Nikki Izzo-Brown’s club has progressed to the second round of the NCAA’s for the fourteenth time.
“You get greedy,” Izzo-Brown said. “Now you are a little bit closer and if you win this, you go to a Sweet 16. We all believe and we’re all in. I can sit back and say, ‘Okay, I did my job. I got a [Big 12] Championship’. But we are not satisfied. I know my staff isn’t. I know the team isn’t.”
The Mountaineers (11-4-7) will travel to face No. 21 Penn State Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The Nittany Lions (14-4-3) defeated the Mountaineers 2-0 on August 25.
“Their offense is obviously the best in the nation in how they are able to score and do the things that they do so well. They are a high-paced, high speed of play type of team. We saw that so we know that matchup.”
Redshirt senior forward Ally Schlegel has scored 13 of Penn State’s 42 goals this season. WVU kept Schlegel off the scoresheet in their previous meeting.
“It is hard to contain her. She is the leading goal scorer in the Big Ten right now. We did a good job with her but when we don’t get a shutout, we are not happy. She is a handful. We have a lot of respect for her.
“You can’t give that kid an inch, especially in the air. She is a true finisher. She is probably very similar to Abby Wambach in the air.”
In West Virginia’s 2-0 win over Virginia Tech in Sunday’s NCAA opener, Aria Bilal and Isabel Loza tallied their first goals of the season.
“I think we have some versatility that people have to think about with us now. It is not just one player necessarily scoring. I think we have been able to shake that around. From my standpoint, it is exciting because at different moments different players have been stepping up.”
The winner of the WVU/Penn State match will face the Xavier/Virginia winner Sunday night in State College. The NCAA traditionally pits regional rivals against each other in the early rounds of the tournament.
“Our region is so hard. That makes it frustrating for us because you have the Virginia’s. You have the Penn State’s. You have a lot of us right in the same region. It would be great even if they shipped us out just to play somebody different. But it is what it is. At some point you are going to face the best. So we are up for the challenge.”