No. 5 West Virginia women’s soccer may have left Charlottesville without a season-ending win against No. 12 Virginia, but Mountaineer goalkeeper Kayza Massey caught national attention after stealing that same potential victory from the Cavaliers.
The game was knotted up at one goal in double overtime with just two minutes left when Virginia’s Alexa Spaanstra found Diana Ordonez for what looked to be a sure goal for the Cavaliers — but Massey extended and made a fingertip save to keep the game level, and save the draw. That capped off a career day for the sophomore as her fifth save of the contest.
The reaching save was impressive enough to catch the eye of ESPN, who included the play in the SportsCenter Top 10 the next morning at No. 9.
Massey is in her first full season as a starter after beating out Maddie Murphy for the job in the fall. In eight matches this season, she has made 11 saves and allowed seven goals en route to a 7-1-1 record.
That record is good enough for a likely at-large bid for the Mountaineers in the NCAA Tournament, who finished their spring slate with three games against ranked opponents, nabbing a pair of home wins plus the Saturday road draw against Virginia.
Selection Monday for the NCAA Tournament is slated for April 19, with competition kicking off on April 27. The entire tournament will take place in and around Cary, North Carolina.