MORGANTOWN — Behind a flurry of shots and dominating defense, the No. 8 West Virginia women’s soccer team dominated Radford, 6-0, on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
In front of 585 fans inside Dick Dlesk Stadium, the Mountaineers sent 38 shots at the Highlanders (16-3-1), who saw their 11-match win streak ended.
The Mountaineers (15-4-3) will now move on to host Wake Forest on Friday in the second round.
It will be the second match of the day, following the second-round match between South Carolina and Penn State. Times of both matches will be released later this week.
The two winners will meet in the Sweet 16 on Sunday at Dick Dlesk Stadium.
The Demon Deacons advanced with a 1-0 overtime win against Ohio State on a goal from freshman midfielder Giovanna Demarco.
WVU is 0-2 all-time against Wake Forest (9-8-1), with the most recent meeting coming in 2009.
This is the fourth consecutive season West Virginia advanced past the first round.
West Virginia had 17 shots on goal and six different players scored for the Mountaineers.
“I’ve been leaning on seniors all year, and this was an incredible opportunity for a lot of our seniors to step-up tonight and to continue our shutout (streak) against an excellent Radford team,” West Virginia coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “It wasn’t easy for us, but we were able to find the back of the net. A lot of that is attributed to the focus and hard work of our seniors.”
It was the most goals scored this season by WVU and the most in a match since the Mountaineers also scored six against Kansas on Oct. 16, 2015.
Lauren Segalla and Sh’Nia Gordon both went at the right side of the post to give the Mountaineers a 2-0 halftime lead.
It was Gordon’s team-leading eighth goal of the season.
The Mountaineers put the game out of reach with four more goals in the second half.
Bianca St. Georges scored on a penalty kick before Stefany Ferrer-Vanginkel out in a header from an assist from Vanessa Flores.
Patricia Fernandez and Grace Smith finished the match off by adding their first goals of the season.
Defensively, the Mountaineers pitched their fourth consecutive shutout and they held Radford to just two shots — none on goal — and no corner kicks for the match.
WVU goal keeper Rylee Foster recorded two saves.
“It’s been an incredible journey for our backline and Rylee,” Izzo-Brown said. “It’s all about how we defend as a unit, and everyone is buying into our defensive mindset. I know the midfield has been especially focused on that and understanding.
“Again, it’s all about huge senior leadership, and it paid off tonight against a prolific attack like Radford’s.”
West Virginia, the Big 12 tournament champions, will enter the second-round match against Wake Forest having won eight of its last nine matches.
