The Times West Virginian

WVU Sports

August 23, 2009

WVU women’s soccer opens with Ohio State

MORGANTOWN — The West Virginia University women’s soccer team begins the 2009 season with a home match against Ohio State today. Kick-off at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Mountaineers return only five starters this season as they begin defense of their Big East American Division title. Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown begins her 14th season in charge of the Mountaineers and has led her teams to nine straight NCAA tournament appearances.

WVU is led by all-Big East forwards Blake Miller and Megan Mischler, All-American midfielder Carolyn Blank and defender Nicole Mailloux. Mischler and Blank were recently named preseason all-Big East selections for 2009. Mailloux, a senior, is the lone returning starter along the Mountaineer back line.

OSU, led by veteran coach Lori Walker, brings a record of 1-0-0 into the contest. Walker has led the Buckeyes to a 128-102-20 mark in now her 13th season with four NCAA tournament appearances (2002-04, 2007) and two Big Ten Championships (2002, 2004).

Ohio State is led by its trio of captains in midfielder Ashley Bower, goalkeeper Lauren Robinson and defender Cassie Dickerson. The Buckeyes return 10 starters from a year ago on a team that finished 8-10-2 and finished fifth in the Big Ten at 5-5-0.

The Buckeyes are coming off a 2-0 victory over Bowling Green in their season opener on Friday.

West Virginia and Ohio State meet for the sixth time with WVU holding a slight 3-2 lead in the all-time series. The Mountaineers won their last meeting with the Buckeyes, a 3-0 win in the 2003 NCAA tournament. That victory advanced WVU into its first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.

Fans attending the home opener can pick up a free 2009 WVU women’s soccer poster featuring Mallory Beck, Kerri Butler, Erica Henderson and Mailloux.

Text Only
WVU Sports
  • HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win

    Perhaps it is what has kept him going through a West Virginia basketball career with as many turns as a trip to Pineville down in Wyoming County, but Truck Bryant enjoys being Truck Bryant.

    February 6, 2012

  • WVU finds a way, wins in overtime

    Truck Bryant made the headline plays, including a 3-point shot with 3.3 seconds left to play, as West Virginia saved its season with an 87-84 overtime victory at Providence, but the subheads had to be reserved for Deniz Kilicli and a pair of freshman guards.

    February 6, 2012

  • Mountaineers face critical test today at Providence

    The schedule tells you it’s another game in the marathon run that is the Big East season, a trip to Providence to play a team with only two conference victories, but somehow everyone connected with the West Virginia University program knows today’s noon meeting with the Friars is much more than that.

    February 5, 2012

  • HERTZEL COLUMN: Jones on the brink of WVU history

    On the one hand there is yesterday’s Warren Baker, who entered the WVU Athletic Hall of Fame in the latest class for the work he did from 1973 to 1976, and on the other hand there is today’s star Kevin Jones, who has emerged from the shadows of the likes of Joe Alexander and Da’Sean Butler this year to carve his own niche in Mountaineer basketball history.

    February 5, 2012

  • WVU backs out of Florida State game

    West Virginia University has canceled its Sept. 8 football game at Florida State.
    Once again, as they have done with virtually everything since announcing they planned to move from the Big East to the Big 12, they did it behind closed doors, without any announcement or statement.

    February 5, 2012

  • WVU women upset Louisville

    It is foolhardy to put it up there with the Baylors and Notre Dames of the women’s world just yet, but really if you look closely and see potential, much of which came out Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers upset No. 12/14 Louisville, 66-50, you realize that this team is closer to greatness than it is to mediocrity.

    February 5, 2012

  • HERTZEL COLUMN: Nothing guaranteed with recruits

    Signing day has come and gone, and here is something to think about.
    Scout, one of the most popular online rating services, has raised West Virginia University’s crop of football recruits to No. 25 in the nation and No. 1 in the Big East.

    February 4, 2012

  • Who really pays WVU’s medical bills?

    A couple of weeks back, West Virginia University released a post-season list of injuries to its football team, and it was a lengthy list of some injuries that required surgery and rehabilitation.

    February 4, 2012

  • Louisville next test for WVU women

    The last time out, the West Virginia University women’s basketball team played its usual game.
    It was at South Florida, facing a pretty good team. It built the big lead it normally builds, then struggled to hold on at the end, turning the ball over and missing free throws, but somehow managed.

    February 4, 2012

  • Smith won’t coach WVU, to stay with Jets

    A couple of days ago, coach Dana Holgorsen, knowing he was going to be changing the defensive schemes West Virginia University runs, was wondering if he would have enough quality defensive linemen.
    A day after recruiting letters were returned and his first recruiting class was on hand, that worry was alleviated.
    But immediately a new worry cropped up.

    February 3, 2012