MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia women’s soccer team used a goal in the 54th minute and its sixth clean sheet of the season to earn a hard-fought 1-0 win over Oklahoma at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Sunday.
The physical play started from the first whistle as the two teams battled to a scoreless tie at the end of the first half. OU earned the game’s first chance on net in the 19th minute as Megan Reilly sent a shot that was grabbed by WVU goalkeeper Rylee Foster. The Mountaineers’ first chance on net came in the 29th minute as sophomore defender Jordan Brewster sent a long shot in that was easily corralled by OU goalkeeper Nikki Panas.
West Virginia (8-6-1, 3-3) added two more shots on net before the end of the first half and led Oklahoma (8-6-3, 3-3-1) 3-1 in shots on goal and 6-4 in total shots at halftime.
The Mountaineers started the second half fast, as junior Stefany Ferrer-vanGinkel and freshman Enzi Broussard earned a shot each in the first six minutes of play.
WVU scored the game’s lone goal in the 54th minute, as sophomore forward Alina Stahl took a pass from senior Jade Gentile in the box and buried the ball the left side of the net.
The goal marked Stahl’s second game-winner this season and the fourth goal on the year, while Gentile earned her third assist of the campaign.
The Sooners’ best opportunity to net an equalizer came in the 75th minute as the Big 12’s goals leader, Kaylee Doa, put a shot on net that Foster corralled to eliminate the attack.
The WVU defense held OU to one shot in the final 15 minutes as the squad held on.
The Mountaineers finished the contest with a 13-9 edge in shots and a 5-2 advantage in shots on goal.
“I thought we finally came out and played 90 minutes of intense soccer,” WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “We had a lot of individual will to come out today and battle against a very good Oklahoma team.”
Senior goalkeeper Rylee Foster passed Lana Bannerman for second place on the program’s career shutouts list after earning her 37th clean sheet Sunday.
Foster, who earned two saves in the match, entered the week ranking third in career shutouts amongst all active goalkeepers in Division I.
