MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sluggish starts have been at least somewhat problematic for West Virginia’s women’s soccer team over its first two matches of the 2026 season.

Making necessary adjustments to overcome those struggles is something the Mountaineers have shown they’re more than capable of.

No. 22 WVU overcame an early deficit Thursday against 23rd-ranked Penn State on a first-half goal from Olivia Shertzer, then gained its lone lead at the midway point of the second half when Jordyn Wilson set up Sophia Nickel for an uncontested goal from close range, allowing the Mountaineers to top the Nittany Lions at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, 2-1.

“It’s incredible. Obviously, that team is nationally-ranked and they’re going to do big things this season. For us to come away with a win like we did tonight, we played well,” WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. “We had a couple breakdowns, but we really battled and it feels great.”

West Virginia, which last defeated PSU in September 2017 and was 0-8-1 in the series since, recognized the importance of the victory against a marquee opponent.

“It feels incredible,” WVU senior defender Olivia Shertzer said. “I’ve been here four and-a-half years and never won, so this is pretty great, especially for all of our seniors. This is definitely a confidence boost. Nine years is kind of crazy, so I like to break that.”

After WVU scored twice in the second half of its 2-0 season-opening win over Dayton last Thursday, the Mountaineers faced their first deficit this season when Penn State (0-1-1) got a goal from Anna Babcock 10:39 into Thursday’s match. Babcock took a pass from teammate Paige Kalal and delivered a well-placed shot with her left foot to the far post that got past Mountaineer goalkeeper Bailey Herfurth.

West Virginia puleld even in the 34th minute when Shertzer scored from approximately 30 yards on a perfectly-placed shot just beyond the outstretched arms of Nittany Lions’ keeper Mackenzie Gress.

“As an outside back, you have to get forward and I like cutting it on my right foot since I am right-foot dominant,” Shertzer said. “I knew we needed to get some offense going in that moment, so cut it in and rip one. Why not?”

It was a highlight-worthy goal from Shertzer on a shot Izzo-Brown is plenty comfortable with her attempting.

“I’ve seen her do it a couple times. One that rings in my brain was at Baylor, so we knew she was capable of doing it, especially when Penn State’s backline was dropping so much and retreating,” Izzo-Brown said. “It was a great moment for Shertz to do what she does best.”

Both teams went to halftime with five shots, and the Mountaineers solidified their defensive play after surrendering the early goal.

With the match still tied at 1 in the 68th minute, Jordyn Wilson sent a cross into the box that got beyond multiple PSU defenders and to Nickel, who scored from close range at the far post with 22:46 remaining in regulation.

“Sophia has just come up with some big goals in big moments,” Izzo-Brown said. “Off the bench, she’s incredible and such a spark plug for us.”

Once West Virginia gained the lead, it showed no sign of squandering it and maintained the strong defensive play over the remainder of the match to ensure a victory over a top 25 opponent for the 18th time in the last 21 seasons.

“I can look to it and talk about different moments and learning moments,” Izzo-Brown said. “Because we win big doesn’t mean we stop growing. I can look and say when Penn State shot the ball and scored, this is what happened and so on and so forth, but from a RPI standpoint, this is a huge postseason win.”

WVU improved to 331-12-5 all-time when scoring multiple goals.

The Mountaineers are back in action at 1 p.m. Sunday when they welcome Duquesne.