For Nikki Izzo-Brown and the rest of the Mountaineer women’s soccer team, last year was underwhelming. On Thursday night, the page officially turns, as West Virginia is set to open the 2022 regular season against Indiana.
Until last year, West Virginia women’s soccer had been a staple in the NCAA Tournament for 21 straight years. Battling through a pandemic, and the after effects of that, the Mountaineers did not make it to the dance last season. Heading into a 2022, head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said there is an expectation, and she expects to live up to it.
“We haven’t had an offseason in two years. We played through all of last season, we never stopped playing,” Izzo-Brown said of the last two seasons. “Really, our team culture was a real big focus of ours. You think after so many years doing this, the team would have a really good understanding, and I just wanted to make sure we had a really good understanding of who we are and what we wanted to do this upcoming this season because pressure is a privilege. 21 straight NCAA Tournaments, there’s an expectation now. There’s an expectation of greatness and when that happens, I have to live up to that.”
As for the team, West Virginia is welcoming back three ‘super-seniors.’ Lauren Segalla, Madison Murphy, and Jordan Brewster, all have an extra year of eligibility they are using due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last season, Segalla led the Mountaineers in goals scored with six, while Brewster led the team in minutes played. Izzo-Brown said having them back should take some of the burden off of her shoulders.
“It’s always exciting when you have super-seniors return,” Izzo-Brown said. “Having the likes of a Jordan Brewster and a Lauren Segalla and a Madison Murphy has been really exciting and I’m hoping I have to do less coaching because of them.”
Izzo-Brown and the rest of the Mountaineers have expectations. Although the Mountaineers were not as successful as they had wanted to be last season, they are picked to finish third in the Big 12, and their chase back to the top of the conference starts on Thursday against Indiana. The Hoosiers went 9-5-4 last season, and return their top two leaders in points in Jen Blitchock and Paige Webber.
“I don’t want the team to be burdened because we didn’t score last year, yes it’s obvious and the spring was a lot about how are we composed in front of the net, how are we finishing quickly, little windows, how are we creating windows, how are we making sure that we are creating windows and creating chances,” Izzo-Brown said.
