Women’s soccer ties with South Florida

Thirty-two combined fouls and four yellow cards gave both South Florida and West Virginia plenty of chances to come away victorious Sunday at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

Neither team was able to capitalize.

USF committed 20 fouls and the Mountaineers were flagged for 11 of their own, but the two teams played to a two-overtime 0-0 draw.

The tie is West Virginia's first of the season, sending WVU's record to 4-4-1 (0-1-1 Big East Conference.

"Any game you go into the team is going to bring that physical aspect," said WVU midfielder Caroline Szwed. "South Florida was a very physical team.

We need to get ready and know that's what they're going to bring and we need to bring more."

West Virginia's offense was able to create opportunities with 16 shots in regulation and five combined in the two overtime periods. Forward Meghan Mischler had six shots for the Mountaineers, three of which were on goal.

The senior almost put the game away with 6:40 remaining in the second overtime when freshman forward Frances Silva crossed the ball to Mischler in the box. Mischler was able to get her head on the ball, but the ball shot over the net and the Mountaineers came up empty.

"Our forwards did a great job getting into the box," said WVU head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. "Now it's about finishing opportunities and putting the game away. For us it was frustrating, we had chances that we should've finished and unfortunately we didn't."

South Florida had its fair share of opportunities, as well. The Bulls brought one of the most dynamic offenses in the nation to Morgantown but came up empty. USF's trio of forwards in Chelsea Klotz, Noelle Pineiro and Venicia Reid had combined for 17 of USF's 22 goals this season.

Klotz, who ranks seventh in the nation with eight goals, gave South Florida their best scoring opportunities of the day with 39:44 to play when she broke open for a one-on-one with Mountaineers' goalkeeper Kerri Butler.

Klotz missed right, but it wouldn't be the last time she was disappointed.

Klotz's last opportunity came with less than a minute to play in the match when she got the ball in open space with 0:55 left, but her attempt went right to Butler.

"She's a dynamic player," Izzo-Brown said. "There's no question that kid's a dynamic player but I thought we did a good job of shutting her down and keeping her off the scoreboard.

We felt very good that we were able to keep that team off the scoreboard."

West Virginia outshot the Bulls 21-19, with six shots on goal, while the Bulls made Butler make five saves. Izzo-Brown knew the chances the Bulls had throughout the game and was proud of how the senior played between the posts.

"I thought Kerri showed great leadership in the net and was able to make herself big in the net and the net small," Izzo-Brown said.

Szwed noted the importance of the rescheduled Pittsburgh game Tuesday. The two teams played 47 minutes on Sept. 16 before the game was suspended for lightning.

"We only accept winning," Szwed said. "But against a good team like South Florida with a tie at least we come out with a point. We know the game against Pitt just became that much bigger."