WVU Women's Soccer Team Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

WVU Women's Soccer Star to Play Professionally in France

Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan has signed with the French club Lyon.

Buchanan, who just wrapped up her college career at West Virginia, joins U.S. forward Alex Morgan, who announced that she was headed for Lyon in late December.

Buchanan has been a standout on the Canadian national team since 2013. She won the Young Player Award in the 2015 Women’s World Cup and was named Canada’s Women’s Player of the Year that season.

She was part of the Canadian team that won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games last summer.

She also played on the West Virginia team that went to the NCAA College Cup final this past season against Southern California. She was awarded the MAC Hermann Trophy as the nation’s top female college player last week.

Her contract with Lyon runs through June 30, 2019, the team announced Monday.

WVU Falls to USC in NCAA Women's Soccer Title

Katie Johnson scored twice in the final 16 minutes to lead Southern California to a 3-1 victory over top-ranked West Virginia in the NCAA women’s College Cup championship game Sunday at Avaya Stadium.

“I felt like the goal against us was kind of my fault. I turned a ball over in the middle,” said Johnson, a senior whose career was threatened two years ago by her second ACL knee injury. “I felt like I had to make up for that. I honestly just wanted to win.”

The second-seeded Trojans (19-4-2) also captured the national title in 2007. They are the fourth school to win multiple College Cup titles.

“This group was a special group from Day 1 … they just didn’t know it yet,” third-year USC coach Keidane McAlpine said.

The Mountaineers (23-2-2) lost for the first time since a 1-0 setback to Georgetown back on Sept. 18. West Virginia had a 17-game unbeaten streak snapped, and allowed three goals for the only time all season.

West Virginia outshot USC 21-8 and held a 9-1 edge in corner kicks, but trailed 1-0 just 1:22 into the game after Morgan Andrews.

“I thought we did a great job battling back, creating opportunities,” West Virginia coach Nikki Brown-Izzy said. “This sport is cruel. At the end of the day we didn’t finish and USC did.”

No one finished better than Johnson, who sat out last season while rehabilitating after ACL surgery on her right knee. She tore ligaments in her left knee in high school.

Johnson, who also had winning goal in USC’s 1-0 semifinal win over Georgetown on Friday, was wide open in front of the net when Leah Pruitt took a pass up the left sideline, beat defender Easther Mayi Kith, and delivered a perfect cross. Johnson simply rolled the ball into the goal to the right of goalkeeper Rylee Foster.

Johnson, selected the College Cup’s most outstanding offensive player, scored again off an assist from Nicole Molen in the 87th minute.

“Having an injury like an ACL injury is not fun,” Johnson said. “I knew this team was going to be special so I worked really hard to come back. I wanted to get the national championship. I knew we could do it.”

“To have the weekend she had is more than fitting,” McAlpine said. “Absolutely unbelievable.”

The Trojans got on the board in the second minute after Julia Bingham directed a corner kick to the top of the penalty box, where Savannah Levin headed the ball forward to Andrews, whose header from 5 yards eluded Foster.

West Virginia’s Ashley Lawrence, a member of the 2016 Canadian Olympic team, tied it at 1 in the 66th minute when she ripped a shot from the top left corner of the penalty box just inside the near post.

The Mountaineers kept the pressure on goalkeeper Sammy Jo Prudhomme and the Trojans’ defense most of the afternoon.

“Sometimes the ball just doesn’t go to the back of the net,” Izzy-Brown said. “I thought we should have had three or four (goals). Lots of credit to Sammy.”

The Trojans joined North Carolina (21 titles), Notre Dame (3) and Portland (3) as the only multiple winners of the College Cup.

USC won its 126th national team title on the same day its men’s water polo team lost 10-8 to Cal in the NCAA final just 45 miles away in Berkeley, California.

West Virginia, in its first College Cup final, was hoping to claim its first NCAA title in any sport besides its co-ed rifle team, which has won 18 national titles.

WVU Women's Soccer Continues Quest for Title

West Virginia University’s Women’s Soccer team will make its debut in the Women’s College Cup Friday. It’s the team’s first trip to the NCAA Women’s Soccer Final Four.

West Virginia University is hoping to continue a season of firsts after the Mountaineer Women’s soccer team spent most of the year at the top of national polls and is the number 1 seed in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament. They’ll meet the University of North Carolina in the first of two games Friday in San Jose, California, in the College Cup. WVU head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said it’s not time to admire they’re successful season just yet.

“From day 1 until we’re the one at the end of the year do I even reflect on the numbers,” Izzo-Brown said. “We have a tough opponent in front of us, so right now that’s all I’m worried about is making sure we bring our best for North Carolina.”

The North Carolina Women’s Soccer program is one littered with history. UNC owns 22 National Championships, it’s last in 2012. In the only other match between the two schools UNC won 4-2 in 2013. Izzo-Brown said her team may be new to the College Cup, but has a unique set of experiences.

“It’s a team that’s behind great leadership, you know we have so much experience on this team,” Izzo-Brown said. “We have Kadeisha and Ashley that have really experienced things on a totally different level too being in World Cups and being in Olympics and we fall on them a lot to make sure that the team is ready.”

Izzo-Brown is talking about Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence, both played on the Canadian National Team in Olympic and World Cup competition. Buchanan was recently named ESPN’s 2016 College Women’s Soccer Play of the Year. She said they want to bring a championship trophy to Morgantown.

“Throughout this year this team has been making history and there is history left to be made,” Buchanan said. “Although it’s history making it to the final four, I think it would be cool to get another history of hoisting that trophy as well.”

WVU and UNC will meet in the first match at 5 Friday. Following the match the University of Southern California will meet Georgetown in the other semifinal. The two winners will play for the National Championship Sunday evening at 6.

WVU Students Talk About Olympic Experience

West Virginia University honored three students Monday, Sept. 26, who brought home medals from the Rio Olympic Games.

Olympians Ginny Thrasher, Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence welcomed guests at the Morgantown Event Center as they reminisced about their time in Rio, Brazil, this summer.

Thrasher, a sophomore, won gold for U.S. rifle while seniors Buchanan and Lawrence won bronze with the Canadian soccer team.

Thrasher expressed her gratitude to represent not only West Virginia, but also the sport of rifle.

“My sport is one that is a little bit of an unknown to the average American, so for me to be representing positively and to display myself and my sport is honestly an honor,” she said.

Lawrence explained how the overwhelming support from her teammates helped her and Buchanan feel they represented the university well.

“We really feel their support and we know how happy they are for us because they know that we aren’t only representing Canada, but we are also representing West Virginia University,” Lawrence said.

The athletes signed autographs, took photos and mingled with the audience after speaking. They are the first student athletes since 1992 to win an Olympic medal while competing for WVU.

The rifle team begins its season on Sunday, Oct. 2, against Ohio State. The women’s soccer team is 8-1-1, and play next on Friday, Sept. 30, against Baylor.