Jordyn Wilson’s 1st goal since 2023 difference-maker in No. 7 WVU women’s soccer win over Marshall
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia women's soccer forward Jordyn Wilson hadn't scored since 2023, her first season seeing action for the Mountaineers. Since then, she's played two full seasons and a few games in 2025, missing most of the year due to injury.
Wilson broke the drought with the lone goal in No. 7 WVU's 1-0 win in the Mountain State Derby against Marshall Sunday night. With the win, the Mountaineers stay hot as they celebrate 30 years of the program and move to a perfect 5-0 on the year.
The Thundering Herd fell to 3-2-2 on the year. WVU is 6-0 in the Mountain State Derby, dating back to 1998. The Mountaineers won last year on the road 2-0.
Senior midfielder Maya Leoni fired in a cross, defender Tyler Clyburn gave it a boost, and Wilson, who broke free in the box, rocketed it to the top of the net in the 50th-minute of the game.
"Anytime a kid comes back from injury and gets on the board, it's a big confidence booster," head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "Jordyn's been working hard. She's a student of the game. She wants to do anything she can to score. That's her job to create goals."
It was only a matter of time for the Mountaineers to break through. WVU dominated in possession and had multiple chances to extend the lead. The Mountaineers had 25 shots, and 11 on goal. WVU had 13 in the first half.
The Mountaineers have scored one goal in the first half this season. That goal came against Penn State. Izzo-Brown said finding the back of the net early is something the team needs to figure out.
"I thought we had some good looks," Izzo-Brown said. “Took some bad looks. We'll figure that out, and how we get on teams early. That's something, before we get into conference play and having UConn coming to town, we got to figure out for sure."
Part of the reason it was tough to score more than just the goal from Wilson was Marshall's keeper Emma Durand. Durand took a couple of rockets from the Mountaineers and had tallied 10 saves on the night.
"She had a great game," Izzo-Brown said. "Her picking game was great. I thought she managed the game well. I don't have anything bad to say about her. I thought she had a great performance tonight."
On WVU's defensive end, it was the third clean sheet of the season. Goalkeeper Bailey Herfurth didn't have much action, with just one save. But, the Mountaineers had to play nearly an entire half without defender Gianna Koss, who left the game with a lower body injury. Junior defender Mia Paugh came off the bench cold and picked up right where Koss left off.
Paugh transferred this offseason from Utah and hasn't played this season.
"I'm not that coach that talks about the injury bug, but we've had it," Izzo-Brown said. "For her to finally get back in the swing of things, and just step on that field like she hadn't missed a beat, just talks about what a great leader she is. She's just this incredible kid that just definitely wants to play."
The Mountaineers take their 5-0 record into their last game of non-conference play against UConn, who is 2-0-1, on Sep. 13 at 1 p.m. WVU had a full week to figure out how to turn the 20-plus shots into more goals, like Wilson's goal in the 50th minute, which was the only difference in the Mountain State Derby.
"For her to finally get that goal, I'm just proud of everything that she did up to this point," Izzo-Brown said.