WVU headed to first NCAA College Cup
West Virginia University made history on Saturday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium with a 1-0 victory over Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCCA women’s soccer tournament in Morgantown.
The No. 1 ranked and seeded Mountaineers (22-1-2) scored early in the first half and held off No. 14-ranked and third-seeded Duke (15-5-3). Last season, WVU suffered a 2-0 setback to Penn State in the national quarterfinals.
WVU is headed to its first NCAA College Cup in program history, and plays 21-time national champion North Carolina (17-3-4) in the national semifinals on Friday at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California. The kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Georgetown (20-2-3), who is the only team to defeat the Mountaineers this season (1-0 in double overtime on Sept. 18), meets USC (18-4-1) in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Both games and the final will be broadcasted on ESPNU.
Coach Nikki Brown-Izzo’s team scored at 15:35 of the first half when Michaela Abam’s corner kick was deflected by Kadeisha Buchanan to Alli Magaletta, who put the ball past Blue Devils keeper EJ Proctor for the goal and the 1-0 lead. It was Magaletta’s third goal this season. Abam picked up her third assist of the year and Buchanan earned her third assist of the 2016 campaign.
Magaletta had three shots and one on goal in 90 minutes of play. Buchanan played 90 minutes controlling the back line for WVU. Abam, who played 74 minutes, added to her team-leading point total with her 31st (11 goals, 9 assists).
Defender Amandine Pierre-Louis had three shots and one on net for the Mountaineers in 90 minutes of action. Teammate Heather Kaleiohi had two shots and one on goal in 66 minutes of play. Ashley Lawrence had a shot and one on target in 90 minutes for WVU. Grace Cutler had the other shot on net for the home team.
WVU and Duke each had five shots on goal, and the Blue Devils had a 17-12 advantage in shots. The visitors held a 10-6 lead in corners.
Proctor made four saves while WVU keeper Rylee Foster had five to pick up the shutout. Foster improved her season mark to 13-1-1 and earned her seventh clean sheet. The Mountaineers have 17 team shutouts this year.
Albert Gallatin grad Hannah Abraham checked into the game for WVU at 66:10 of the second half and played the remainder of the contest. Abraham has four goals and two assists this season for 10 points. All of her goals are game winners.
The Mountaineers benefited from some good fortunate at 52:21 when a header by Duke’s Imani Dorsey hit the post. Foster made one of her five saves at 57:29 when she stopped Toni Payne to keep the lead at 1-0. Dorsey had two shots on goal for the Blue Devils and Payne had one.
WVU committed 17 fouls, and Kaleiohi was hit with a yellow card. Duke was called seven times for fouls.
The Mountaineers improved to 18-15-3 in all-time NCAA Tournament play, including a 13-6-3 mark at home.