West Virginia University’s women’s soccer team is wrapping up its Arizona road trip with a match against Arizona on September 29. The game, taking place at Murphey Field in Tucson, marks just the second meeting between the two teams, with WVU leading the series 1-0. The Mountaineers previously won their last game against Arizona State, improving to 4-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2016. Key players include Ajanae Respass, who leads in goals and is among the top in game-winning goals in the conference.

By the Numbers

• WVU is 4-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2016.
• Ajanae Respass has scored six goals and has four assists this season.
• Arizona has a 7-3-1 overall record with two wins in Big 12 play.

Yes, But

While WVU is performing well, Arizona also poses a challenge with a solid record and can capitalize on home-field advantage. The Wildcats have been consistent in their play, recently achieving a win against Cincinnati, which could bolster their confidence against WVU.

State of Play

• WVU is on a historical first trip to Arizona, aiming to extend its winning streak.
• Arizona is looking to rebound from previous performances to improve its standings.

What’s Next

Post-match, both teams will likely reevaluate their strategies as they prepare for upcoming matches within the conference. This game could significantly influence their rankings in Big 12 standings.

Bottom Line

WVU aims to maintain its winning streak and showcase its offensive strength, while Arizona seeks to leverage its home advantage and improve upon its Big 12 performance. This match holds significant implications for both teams as they vie for better standings in the conference.

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – The Omaha Public Power District is sending Mutual Aid crews to West Virginia in support of power restoration efforts after Hurricane Helene.

In a release Saturday, OPPD says a company in Charleston, West Virginia is taking up their offer for support.

A 16-person Mutual Aid team hit the road this morning, according to the statement, and is expected to reach Charleston by Sunday afternoon.

The statement says that over 4 million customers have lost power as a result of Hurricane Helene.

“Our employees were eager to help. Some of the Line Techs called me earlier in the week, asking when and where we were going,” said Eli Schiessler, OPPD Transmission & Distribution center manager. “The work is extremely tough, but restoring power and helping out communities in need is why many of them chose this line of work.”

This is the third time OPPD has sent out a mutual aid crew, according to the statement. OPPD has sent crews out to Kansas City in January, and Iowa and Illinois in July.

All three companies returned the favor when a massive windstorm came through Omaha in late July and knocked out over 200,000 OPPD customers.

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Neal Brown hardly had a choice.

A 32-yard touchdown run from Kansas’ Luke Grimm, who dashed down the sideline directly in front of West Virginia’s sixth-year head coach, left the Jayhawks with a 28-17 lead and 5:39 remaining last Saturday at Mountaineer Field.

Needing to make up that deficit in timely fashion, the Mountaineers were forced to go into 2-minute mode offensively to start their next series. That became a nine play, 75-yard drive that produced a touchdown, which combined with a successful two-point conversion, allowed WVU trail by three with 3:27 remaining. Following a defensive snap, the Mountaineers got the ball back, again operated at a quick pace, and scored a second touchdown in as many possessions with 26 seconds remaining to rally for a much-needed 32-28 victory.

Despite the abundance of success on the final two series, Brown believes the Mountaineers must continue to pick and choose when to go utilize their 2-minute offense.

“If you do that all the time, you make it really hard on your defense,” Brown said. “If you’re going to do that all the time, then people are working that all the time. When people are going to play us, that’s not the first thing they’re working on. They’re working on how they’re going to play our run game concepts, how they’re going to play quarterback run stuff and how do you stop shot plays. They probably get to the 2-minute stuff later in the week, but at the very start, they probably go, ‘how do we play the run game and keep the ball in front of us on shot plays?’ There’s some cat and mouse stuff that you can do that makes it really hard, and you’re putting your offensive line in a tough spot.”

The play of quarterback Garrett Greene was especially imperative to the success in the come-from-behind win against KU. One week earlier, Greene was in a tough spot when West Virginia got the ball back with 30 seconds left, no timeouts and a four-point deficit at Pitt. He threw three incomplete passes and then an interception on fourth down that sealed the Mountaineers’ fate.

“They did a good job covering it,” Greene said afterward, “and I couldn’t find the open guy.”

That was anything but the case late against Kansas. Greene finished the second-to-last scoring series 4-for-7 with 60 yards and a touchdown, while rushing twice for 7 yards.

On West Virginia’s final full possession, Greene completed both of his passes for 26 yards with a touchdown, had another throw that drew a pass interference penalty and rushed four times for 25 yards. Altogether, the senior signal-caller was 6-for-9 with 86 yards and two passing TDs to go with six carries for 32 yards on his team’s final two scoring drives.

“I felt like our best opportunity was to spread them out and use plays where it was basically one, two, run. That’s not always the best,” Brown said. “You allow him to be who he is. There’s some things he does that are really frustrating to me, but he also does some things that I can’t coach. I can’t coach him to break tackles. It’s give and take. I don’t get really frustrated outwardly. I know there’s going to be some latitude taken by him. I have to be OK with it.

“We got in that 2-minute mode the other day and I was like, ‘if you pull down and run, that’s fine. Get your eyes where they’re supposed to be.’ The kid makes plays. He’s a play maker that can continue to be better as a passer.”

While Greene has proven he can thrive operating a 2-minute offense on several occasions over his two seasons as a starter, his accuracy remains a work in progress. 

Greene made it known significant improvement to last year’s 53 percent completion rate was one of his main priorities in his final college season, but thus far, he’s hit on 63-of-11 passes for slightly less than 57 percent.

In three games against FBS competition, Greene has completed 46-of-88 passes for slightly better than 52 percent.

Brown believes better fundamentals within the pocket are a clear starting point for Greene to complete more passes.

“If he would consistently do what he’s supposed to do with his feet, he’d have a higher completion percentage,” Brown said. “I’m good if he’s going to run around. I’m fine with all that. But when the play is in the pocket, let’s be fundamentally sound. That’s what he has to get better at. He throws the deep ball extremely well, and all kinds of different types of deep balls. But in rhythm throws, he has to make sure his base stays the way it should be.”