Soccer loses to No. 17 West Virginia, 2-0

Sunday, September 28

Austin, Texas

1 p.m.

University of Texas

6-4-2, 1-1-0Big 12

West Virginia

8-2-2, 1-0-1Big 12

Team	1	2	Final F
West Virginia	1	1	2
Texas	0	0	0

09.28.2014 | Soccer

Box Score

Longhorns fall to 6-4-2 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 Conference play

Photo Gallery

AUSTIN, Texas – On Sunday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium, goals from West Virginia's Kelsie Maloney and Ashley Lawrence proved the difference as the 17th-ranked Mountaineers (8-2-2, 1-0-1 Big 12) defeated Texas (6-4-2-, 1-1-0 Big 12), 2-0.

WVU out-shot the Longhorns by a 17-11 total for the match and led in corner kicks, 7-4. UT managed a 10-7 advantage in total shots and a 7-3 disparity in shots on frame, however, over the second 45 minutes of play. Junior goalkeeper Abby Smith was required to make seven saves for the Horns between the pipes, while senior defender Whitney Jaynes led Texas with four shots, one on target.

"I'm disappointed in our decision making – we need to be more eager to receive the ball," Texas head coach Angela Kelly said. "In the second half, we were more willing to make and combine passes. West Virginia is a high quality team. They have won the league the past three seasons, and they've been tops in the Big East. You're not going to get many gifts against them. I thought we had two pretty obvious opportunities in the second half that we needed to put away, and you aren't going to be given too many of those opportunities. Those were two quality goals from West Virginia. It's a battle, but that's the perennial champion of the conference. They're good for a reason. We need to regroup and look at our film. We understand our decision making, and we understand that you don't pick or choose when you show up. This is conference time, and you need to show up every game."

As soon as the ball started rolling, West Virginia displayed confidence on the pitch by getting off to a fast start and not letting Texas settle into the game. Over the first 5:52 of the match, the Mountaineers managed three shots, two of which were saved by Smith, and a pair of corner kicks. West Virginia used a solid trio of attackers in forwards Amandine Pierre-Louis, Ashley Lawrence and Kate Schwindel to wreak early havoc in the Longhorn backline.

In the 14th minute, Jaynes attempted to give the Horns offense some life by covering two-thirds of the pitch on a strong possessive run from her backline position up the left wing. The Mountaineers raced to catch up and won back possession, however, before the UT senior defender could unleash a shot.

After 20 minutes of play and a nice Longhorn defensive effort, Texas began finding rhythm and creating lanes to serve the ball up field. During the 26th minute, senior Cierra Grubbs gave the team an offensive spark, showing great footwork and elusiveness to shake off two defenders and set up a corner kick. Off the feed into the middle, the ball bounced out to Jaynes, and she fired a left-footed shot that traveled wide right.

West Virginia's offense registered back-to-back shots at 29:53 and 30:13 as midfielder Amanda Hill and Maloney fired shots from approximately 14 yards out in the middle that were stopped by Smith.

With the Mountaineers pushing strongly over the last minutes of the half, they were able to drive the middle of the field and feed a ball to Maloney on the right side. She created a little separation and ripped a shot that looked as if it would travel right into the waiting arms of Smith in net. The shot took a small deflection off a Texas defender, however, and that proved just enough to push the ball past UT's goalkeeper at 42:27 for a 1-0 lead.

The Longhorns opened of the second half looking revitalized and focused on making a comeback. UT got off to a great start just 1:26 into the new stanza as sophomore midfielder Julia Dyche fired a blast from long distance that barely sailed left of the post.

Five minutes into the second frame, sophomore defender Isabelle Kerr sent a searching cross from the right wing to the middle looking for freshman forward Olivia Brook. West Virginia goalkeeper Hannah Steadman managed to out-leap the crowd in front, however, to punch the ball out of danger.

With Kelly's squad showing creative flashes and creating dynamic plays during the first 10 minutes of the second frame, West Virginia slowly began regaining possession in the middle of the field and earning corners in their favor.

In the 60th minute Brook made a solid run up the left side. Her feed to Jaynes allowed the senior defender the chance to fire on net, but again Steadman made the save for the Mountaineers.

The WVU advantage doubled at 61:15 as a pass to the middle of the 18 located the feet of Lawrence. She turned and dribbled quickly to her right before firing back into the left side of the netting to make it 2-0.

Texas refused to go down without a fight as Grubbs forced a save at 61:31. Texas junior forward Chantale Campbell nearly tucked a ball in at the left post at 66:29, but a Mountaineer player dove to register a team save and had a teammate promptly clear the ball away.

Down the stretch, shots from Brook (69:38), Kerr (76:04) and Campbell (83:12) all traveled on frame, but again found the waiting arms of Steadman as West Virginia completed its two-goal victory.