No. 4 West Virginia defeated No. 2 TCU in the final of the Big 12 championship on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Horned Frogs 1-0. The win gave the Mountaineers their fifth Big 12 championship since joining the conference.
The match went scoreless for the first 90 minutes, leading the two teams to overtime, with both teams needing to figure out how to break through first. The Mountaineers led the match in shots after regular time expired, with a 9-8 advantage.
The breakthrough came when fifth-year senior Jordan Brewster scored her third goal of the season in the 92nd minute when the Mountaineers got a free kick from their own half and Brewster booted the ball downfield as it took a bounce in the box that got over the head of TCU goalie Lauren Kellett.
The goal for Brewster was the ninth of her Mountaineer career, in her 99th game in a West Virginia uniform.
The Mountaineers defense played to a shutout for the second straight match, led by Co-Big 12 goalkeeper of the year Kayza Massey tying her season high with seven saves. The two shut-outs also came out the two highest scoring teams in the Big 12 this season with All-Big 12 first team defender Jordan Brewster and All-Big 12 second team defender Gabrielle Robinson playing the full match in each.
Despite the final score, TCU was able to out-shoot the Mountaineers 11-10, with a 7-4 advantage in shots on target. To go along with the seven saves, Massey earned her ninth shut-out of the season, tied for third most in the conference.
The win guarantees the Mountaineers a spot in the NCAA tournament, as the conference winner gets an automatic bid. The selection show for the tournament will be held on Monday, November 7th at 4 p.m. streaming live on NCAA.com
Photo by WVU Athletics
