Sept. 1, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The 15th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers scored first and held on to defeat the Purdue women's soccer team by a score of 1-0 in Wednesday evening action at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on the WVU campus. The game was the first on the field since the construction of a 1,600-seat grandstand on the east side of the field.
The loss by the Boilermakers drops their record to 2-1-0, while the Mountaineers improve to 3-0-0.
West Virginia capitalized on its fourth of 16 shots in the game, scoring the game's lone goal at 10:48. Purdue posted eight shots in the game, and ended trailing in shots-on-goal, 9-2.
"It was an educational 90 minutes for us," head coach Rob Klatte said. "We let them dictate play for the opening 30 minutes and that led to their goal. Once we were behind, we used a lot of energy chasing them in that opening half."
West Virginia struck in the 11th minute on a long goal off the foot of Natalie Cocchi. Boilermaker keeper Lauren Mason (So., Colorado Springs, Colo.) sent a Mountaineer volley deep out of the 18-yard box, but Cocchi one-timed the rebound just under the crossbar from 35-yards out for the score.
After action was dominated in the Purdue defensive half of the field for the opening 20 minutes by the West Virginia attack, the Boilermakers made strong offensive runs into their offensive third of the field over the next 15 minutes, exchanging strikes with the Mountaineers. However, Purdue was able to muster just one shot during that span, a blast by freshman Shauna Stapleton (Springfield, Ohio) that sailed over the goal from 20 yards out.
The Boilermakers posted their best offensive threat of the first half in the 37th minute when a Purdue cornerkick was played to the far post, but a shot from 15 yards by senior Lori Arnold (Washington, Ind.) was sent over the goal. Purdue threatened twice more in the final two minutes, but was unable to connect on entry passes, sending the game into intermission with the Mountaineers holding a 1-0 advantage.
Freshman Jill Sarbaugh (Brownsburg, Ind.) registered the Boilermakers' first shot on goal in the 48th minute after splitting Mountaineer defenders, driving a shot at WVU keeper Lana Bannerman from 18 yards. Bannerman was up to her first challenge, catching the waist-high shot for the save.
The Mountaineers attacked new Purdue keeper Maureen Carey (Sr., Wheaton, Ill.) in the 63rd minute. However, Laura Kane, WVU's first-team All-Big East forward, misfired during a 2-on-1 attack and was unable to put the ball on net.
For much of the second half, the Boilermaker attack controlled the flow of action, holding the ball in the West Virginia defensive half for the majority of play. A Mountaineer defense, led by seniors Leslie Barden and Ashley Weimer, were successful in protecting their sophomore keeper
"We did a good job in the second half of making our runs," Klatte said. "We just need to get that emotion going from the start and not wait until we're a goal down."
West Virginia out-shot the Boilermakers in the opening 45 minutes by a 9-3 margin, with six Mountaineer shots on target. Purdue failed to put a shot on goal during the first half.
For the Boilermakers in goal, Mason made five saves in the first half while Carey recorded four stops in the latter period.
The Boilermakers return to the road on Sunday when they travel to Lincoln, Neb., to face the 22nd-ranked Cornhuskers. The game is slated to start at 1 p.m.