MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s women’s soccer team entered Thursday night’s match against Arizona anything but short on confidence.
The Mountaineers had a seven match unbeaten streak and were playing at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium for the first time in nearly a month — and on a new surface at that.
WVU continued its trend of strong play over the last five weeks, getting two goals and an assist from Taylor White along with its seventh clean sheet this season in a 3-0 victory against the Wildcats.
“We were definitely very excited to get home and this team from the get go really loved each other,” WVU head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “As cheesy as that sounds, they just really play for each other. Right from the get go, I thought that admiration and respect they had for each other was hopefully going to propel us to this point and continue to get better and make sure that everybody is doing their job. Everyone is doing their job, there is a lot of unselfish play and hopefully we’ll continue getting results.”
The result makes it eight straight with a loss for the Mountaineers (7-2-2, 2-0-2). WVU has allowed a total of three goals during that stretch.
“We work hard in practice and practice on the little things,” White said. “Keeping the ball out of the back of our net is our main goal, and putting the ball in the opposite next is the next big goal. Just working on that and continuing to do that is the most important thing to keep our flow how it’s going.”
West Virginia controlled play for large stretches of the opening half and struck first in the 21st minute when White found Maddie Levy, who beat Olivia Ramey for a 1-0 advantage.
WVU goalkeeper Bailey Herfurth stopped a shot from the Wildcats’ Sami Baytosh 6 minutes later for one of her two first-half saves.
The Mountaineers had five of the six corner kicks in the first half and attempted 10 shots, but settled for the one-goal advantage.
It didn’t take long for the home team to add to its advantage after the intermission as White got behind the defense and received a pass from Jacey Rase, before scoring into an open goal as Ramey had come out to challenge the Mountaineers’ leading scorer.
“We had to continue to keep our foot on the gas and keep running over them,” White said. “That was the main goal. Find our passes, run our things that we need to and continue to put the ball in the back of the net.:”
White’s first goal of the night allowed WVU to lead 2-0 in the 53rd minute, and less than 8 minutes later, she scored again — this time off an assist from Ajanae Respass.
“Taylor White was incredible getting all those points and being part of all the attack,” Izzo-Brown said. “Collectively, we defended well and created a lot of chances.”
White now has a team-best six goals, while Levy follows with four. That duo is responsible for 10 of the Mountaineers’ 21 goals this season.
Herfurth is 6-0-2 between the posts and has stopped 18 of the 21 shots she’s faced.
“In the first half, she came up with that one touch save. That was great,” Izzo-Brown said. “She’s organizing the back and absolutely making the saves she’s supposed to make and keeping us with a shutout. Bailey had a great game moving the ball and being commanding.”
The Mountaineers finished with 16 attempted shots to four for Arizona, which fell to 7-5 overall and 2-2 in the conference. The Wildcats are 1-4 away from home.
WVU is back in action Sunday for its second of three straight matches at home when it welcomes Arizona State at noon.
“You have to win at home” Izzo-Brown said. “That’s part of the strategy and getting points on the road. For us to continue to do what we want to do, we have to get points Sunday.”