MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown has heaped praise upon junior Sophia Nickel for her ability to stay present and fill various roles.
“I tell her to play the back, I tell her to play up top, I tell her you’re not starting, you’re starting,” Izzo-Brown said. “She doesn’t bend at all. She says, ‘OK coach’, and then does her job and does it so well.”
Thus far in 2026, Nickel has served as the Mountaineers’ primary goal scorer, a role she again filled Sunday against Duquesne.
Nickel came off the bench and broke a scoreless tie in the 77th minute by taking a pass from teammate Alexis Re, playing a touch with her right foot to work around a Dukes’ defender and blasting a shot with her left foot to beat goalkeeper Ali Hughes.
That gave 22nd-ranked WVU a 1-0 lead, and the Mountaineers doubled it 5 minutes later when Alexis Re capitalized on a scrum in the box and provided some insurance in what amounted to a 2-0 victory at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
“Whenever I come on as a sub, I want to prove I can make a difference and I try to do that every time I come off the bench,” Nickel said. “So far, it’s been working.”
With the result, the Mountaineers improved to 3-0 this season and 13-0-2 all-time against Duquesne, which fell to 1-2.
“This was our first Sunday [game], so we really needed to see how we do with a Thursday-Sunday, because that’s a monster,” Izzo-Brown said. T”he girls did really well with that. It’s critical for postseason and beyond for us to win at home. They just kept grinding it out. The block that Duquesne put on us was complicated and we finally broke through.”
WVU was largely in control of the match throughout, but had nothing to show for it at halftime and entered the intermission tied for the third time in as many matches.
The Dukes delivered their first of two shots goal less than 5 minutes into the second half, and the attempt from Brynn Ramsey was stopped by WVU keeper Bailey Herfurth.
Herfurth made another save in the 75th minute on a shot taken by Reagan Basehore, and 2 minutes later, Nickel accounted for what proved to be her third game-winning goal in as many matches.
“For Sophia, really just getting a feel for the game quickly,” Izzo-Brown said. “That’s always hard, but also being laser focused on what’s happening with the minutes that she’s on the bench. It is complicated, but she does it well.”
West Virginia, which failed to capitalize on several high-quality chances before Nickel put the home team ahead, didn’t get complacent after gaining the lead.
Instead, the Mountaineers continued to apply pressure and it paid off in the form of Koss’ second career goal, which was assisted by Anna Hauer.
“G was kind of just in the right place at the right time and we’ll take any goal,” Nickel said.
Hughes made seven saves in defeat, while Herfurth recorded her second clean sheet this season and has allowed one goal in three matches.
“Momentum is everything,” Izzo-Brown said. “Senior leadership in our goalkeeping and staying focused. When you’re constantly passing and trying to break a team down, you can get lulled and forget your job as a defender, so it was really good that Bailey stayed focused and engaged.”