Both West Virginia men’s and women’s soccer teams are more than halfway through the 2023 season.
Both teams have begun conference play, with the women’s team competing in the Big 12, and the men’s team competing in the Sun Belt.
Through nine games this season, the men’s team is still undefeated, sitting at 7-0-2, earning themselves a top-four ranking. Their two ties came on the road against No. 5 UCF, and then this past weekend against Georgia Southern at home. Both those games were WVU’s only two Sun Belt Conference games they have played so far this season.
The biggest victory for the Mountaineers came on Sept. 9 against No. 3 Portland, when a goal scored in the final seconds gave West Virginia a 1-0 home victory.
What’s stood out so far from this group is their defense. The Mountaineers have only allowed four goals through nine matches, which is fifth-best in the country.
On offense, West Virginia has been led by Marcus Caldiera. Through nine games he has scored eight goals which is tied for the best in college soccer. Out of those eight goals, three of them have been game-winners.
West Virginia men’s soccer has eight matches left in the regular season, including an in-state matchup against No. 1 Marshall on Oct. 18 in Morgantown.
The women’s team came into 2023 looking to defend their Big 12 crown, but have gotten off to a slow start in conference play.
The Mountaineers are 3-6-2 on the year, and are 1-2 in Big 12 Conference play, including a recent 5-1 home loss to TCU on Sunday.
The Mountaineers stacked their non-conference portion of their schedule with some of the top teams in the country, but it ended with losses to No. 4 Duke, No. 8 Penn State, and No. 12 Virginia.
Taylor White leads the women’s team in scoring with five goals to go along with two assists on the year. WVU’s defense has struggled at times this season as they are allowing 1.73 goals per game compared to just .91 goals per game a season ago.
They still have seven matches left on their schedule, including a trip to No. 21 Texas on Thursday at 8 p.m. The men’s team is back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Georgia State.
