Ahead of WVU’s first conference match of the season against Cincinnati, head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown likes the Mountaineers odds but will not be taking it easy ahead of Thursday.
West Virginia will travel to Cincinnati for the 7 p.m. match, looking to be the one to improve off the teams’ shared 4-2-1 record. On that trip, Izzo-Brown will prepare for all possibilities the Bearcats may throw at her, whether that be by watching film or studying stats.
“I’m not a sleeper on a plane,” Izzo-Brown said.
One name bound to show up extensively in Izzo-Brown’s research will be Cincinnati freshman forward Rylee Felton. Felton leads the Bearcats in scoring this year and is second in the Big 12 in goals, with six goals and one assist in the first seven matches, despite starting just three.
Felton earned Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Week honors last week after scoring Cincinnati’s only goal in a tie against Louisville and tallying two goals and her first assist three days later against Eastern Michigan. This past week, the freshman has found success but at a smaller scale, scoring a goal on three shots against Butler before being held to zero attempts against No. 15 Xavier.
The Mountaineers have also relied heavily on a new face thus far. Junior forward Ajanae Respass leads WVU in points, with team-highs of four goals and three assists after transferring from Oregon in January.
Team veterans Dilary Heredia-Beltran and Taylor White join Respass at the top of the offensive stats, with Heredia-Beltran managing two goals and two assists in seven starts and White adding one more goal to that line in 68 less minutes and two less starts.
White and Respass in particular have made headlines for West Virginia so far this year, with Respass reaching the Big 12’s top 10 rankings in goals, assists, points, and game-winners and White showing remarkable efficiency, managing 15 shot attempts in limited playing time.
“Both of them have a really good understanding of being in the right spots at the right time,” Izzo-Brown said about the forwards.
With Heredia-Beltran slated to graduate after this season, White and Respass will lead WVU through the year and into the next alongside defenders Gianna Koss, Olivia Shertzer, and Roxanne Vilain, who have each started every match this season.
Respass represents a small but significant wave of transfers at WVU, as just one of seven recruits from the portal. The trip to Cincinnati will be all of the transfers’ first experience with Big 12 competition, but for Izzo-Brown, the change from non-conference play to conference matches does not make her worry about her players.
While Izzo-Brown recognizes there is a learning curve coming into conference play for her freshmen who are new to the experience, she does not expect such difficulties for the team’s transfers.
“I think all leagues are kind of the same in a lot of ways,” Izzo-Brown said.
Whether or not that stands true will be tested Thursday, as Respass, Koss, and Vilain all get their first taste of Big 12 play, likely as starters. The match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+.
Photo from WVU Women’s Soccer
