MORGANTOWN — The West Virginia University women’s soccer team is no stranger to success. In the last decade, it has captured multiple Big 12 conference titles and made many appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown and the Mountaineers’ 2023 season was the first to yield less than ten wins in over 18 seasons with an overall record of 7-8-4 (5-2-3 Big 12). Izzo-Brown and her squad enter 2024 with heightened experience that they hope can help renew the program’s winning ways from the past.
“We’re just excited to kick off the 2024 season and doing it at home,” Izzo-Brown said on Tuesday via Zoom. “Thursday can’t come soon enough for us, and we are eager to see where we are as a team going into the new year.”
The Mountaineers begin the 2024 campaign with a pair of home matches beginning tonight at 7 p.m., with the Delaware Blue Hens visiting Morgantown before a Sunday matinee against Radford at 1 p.m. over the weekend at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
WVU will play ten home matches in the regular season, five of which are Big 12 matchups. Along with Delaware and Radford, Robert Morris, James Madison, and Liberty will all make the short trek to Morgantown for a non-conference match.
Early-season tests, including trips to Clemson and Penn State in consecutive games on August 23 and 29, will show WVU where they stand after the first few weeks of the season.
The Mountaineers will host Kansas, Kansas State, UCF, Texas Tech, and conference-newcomer Colorado for Big 12 contests while hitting the road for battles with Cincinnati, Arizona State, Arizona, Baylor, TCU, and Houston.
“We always want to go out and play the teams like Penn State and Clemson that are so successful,” Izzo-Brown said. “This year, we tried to put together a schedule that would allow us to have a good balance of home and away games that will challenge us and make us better.”
WVU scored 28 goals in 2023, led by returning striker Taylor White. The junior netted nine goals for WVU last season, including a goal in four straight games in October. White will again be considered a key contributor to the offense.
“Taylor had a great summer, and her confidence in being our leading scorer from last year will be huge for her early,” Izzo-Brown said. “But her maturity has also grown as one of the team’s leaders and has a great understanding of who she is on and off the field and our expectations as a program.”
Another player who can positively impact the Mountaineers is preseason All-Big 12 Soccer selection midfielder AJ Rodriguez.
Izzo-Brown said she is a good soccer talent with a high IQ who can be relied upon to make the right decisions constantly.
“When you watch AJ, she is a kid that rarely makes the wrong pass or decision,” Izzo-Brown said. “She is enthusiastic and passionate about the game and sees it at a high level. She stayed here all summer to grow. We hope to have her be more productive in the final third and help us score goals.”
The Mountaineers kick off the 2024 season tonight against Delaware at 7 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
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