The United States Men’s National Team needs a new coach, but Nikki Izzo-Brown is busy. The nation’s top-ranked women’s soccer team is in the Elite Eight. The top seed is not, because Stanford was upset at home over the weekend. This may or may not be West Virginia’s year, but after three games, there’s no evidence to say the Mountaineers can’t handle the stage.

They needed both overtimes and penalty kicks to do it, but the No. 1 WVU women’s soccer team held off the No. 4 seed, a talented UCLA team, 1-1, 4-2 on PKs to survive and advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

“This team never ceases to surprise me,” said WVU head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “They have prevailed through so many different adversities and situations. This was just another one where they showed their grit, their grind, and their focus.”

UCLA’s road to the Sweet 16 included a 3-0 win over Seattle in the first round and a 2-0 win over Nebraska in the second round.

Amidst cold, wind and snowy conditions, both teams struggled with their footing, touches and passing on the snow-covered pitch, and the 10-20 mph winds made passes and crosses difficult.

“It obviously affected both teams,” Izzo-Brown said. “We like to possess the ball, and there were times that we couldn’t because of the conditions of the field. So, we just had to figure out different methods of getting into the attack and being effective. It was frustrating because we didn’t necessarily get to play the way that we wanted play.”