Coming back from their one game road trip, West Virginia (2-1-1) was back at home and defeated Saint Francis (0-0-4) 3-0 at Dick Desk Stadium on Sunday. The Mountaineers defense was stellar all day, as they only allowed one shot the entire game.
West Virginia came out with a high press to start the match, forcing Saint Francis to make quick decisions. Despite this, West Virginia themselves struggled early to keep possession of the ball.
The Mountaineers were able to get a quick counter going in the 4th minute, with nice passing and some around the box dribbling leading to the first chance of the match, an outside the box shot from Lily Mccarthy that just went high over the bar.
The Mountaineers found their footing in the match quickly after this, causing bad decisions by Saint Francis and creating attacking opportunities. The Red Flash struggled to keep possession of the ball for more than a few seconds before the Mountaineers would be on the counter again.
The Mountaineers would break through in the 12th minute on a corner kick when Julianne Vallerand snuck in late and put one past Saint Francis keeper Sarah MCconnon with the assist from Lily Mccarthy.
When asked if it was a designed play for Vallerand to come into the box late Head Coach Nikki Izzo Brown said set pieces are something they continually work on.
“Coach Stoia does a great job on set pieces and obviously Jubes (Vallerand) is always hunting the goal so I thought both of them executed that very well”
West Virginia would have a prime opportunity in the 18th minute, when Lauren Segalla, looking for her first goal of the season cut inside and fired a hard shot, but right at the Saint Francis keeper.
Taylor White would see two great scoring opportunities in the coming minutes, first in the 29th minute where she intercepted a bad pass from the Saint Francis keeper but her shot went wide, and then five minutes later, in the 34th minute when a pass came straight across goal and at the feet of White, but her shot again went wide.
Despite countless offensive opportunities, the Mountaineers would head to the half up just 1-0. West Virginia’s defense was nearly flawless, allowing just one shot in the half and not letting Saint Francis attackers have any time. West Virginia had 13 shots in the half, with seven of them on target.
The first chance of the second half came in the 50th minute for the Mountaineers, when a Saint Francis foul just outside the box led to a free kick but Jordan Brewster’s shot would go high. West Virginia would again create a chance right in front of the net in the 61st minute, when a cross by AJ Rodriguez found Taylor White again, but this time White put it over the top of the bar.
In the 67th minute, Lily McCarthy got the goal that was coming for West Virginia from a tough angle to increase the lead to 2-0. Another one would come for WVU in the 79th minute, Aaliyah Scott tucked one in the back of the net right in front of goal to put the Mountaineers up 3-0.
That would be the final score, with WVU getting their first shutout of the season in a 3-0 win. The Mountaineers led in total shots 29-1, and shots on goal 11-1. The Mountaineers next match will be on Thursday when they head to No. 12 ranked Auburn to look for their first road win of the season.
