Nikki Izzo-Brown is very much invested in the immediate future of international women’s soccer and what it means to the fate of her fantastic program. The Kicking Nikkis have been blessed with help from our friends north of the border for many, many years. Some of WVU’s best women’s players of the past, present and future are Canadian.

And while we witness the start of the World Cup today and take in the fever the Brazilians have after the buzz leading to this moment, consider for a moment that Canada has the under-20 Women’s World Cup in August and the actual World Cup next summer.

Repercussions, eh?

WVU is probably going to have two players on the roster and one starter — and Izzo-Brown believes Kadeisha Buchanan can be one of the best to ever play her position. So from that comes a benefit, of course, in the form of what can be considered an impossible-to-predict bump from the exposure and the path that leads from Canada to Morgantown.

“Obviously, for the reputation of the university itself, that would be huge,” Izzo-Brown said. “For sure it’s important for recruiting purposes, too, to show how they’ve developed and what kind of impact they have.

“Kadeisha literally got off a plane from West Virginia, went into the friendly against the U.S. and scored. That showed what her development has been like at West Virginia, so it’s huge for us for recruits to come in and look at Kadeisha and Ashley and see two kids playing on the biggest stage right now who get to develop at the highest level.”