In the spring of 2004, Pat Carroll and Ashley Banks led their respective high school soccer teams on a trip down Interstates 95 and 64 to Newport News. At Christopher Newport University, the West Springfield High boys and W.T. Woodson High girls each won a Group AAA Virginia state championship.
Later that summer, Carroll and Banks also made a similar trip on Interstate 68 across the Cumberland Gap to Morgantown, W.Va. and West Virginia University.
Success has followed. Banks and Carroll have helped the Mountaineers gain national acclaim and win Big East regular-season titles as the NCAA Tournament approaches.
They also aren’t the only two Washington-area natives playing big roles. Junior forward Kim Bonilla (Woodbridge High) is having her first true injury-free season in three years, and she is the eighth-ranked Mountaineer’s (14-2-2, 8-2-1 Big East) second-leading scorer with nine goals and 10 assists.
Senior goalkeeper and third-year starter Nick Noble (Damascus/Georgetown Prep) has posted nine shutouts and has a 0.63 goals against average for the fourth-ranked Mountaineer men (14-1-2, 9-0-1), who won their first-ever Big East regular-season title. After winning just five games in 2003, West Virginia’s only defeat this season was a 2-1 loss in overtime playing with 10 men at then-No. 1 Virginia.
“We took the top team in the country at the time to overtime, and we dominated most of the game,” said Noble. “At that point I knew we could play with anybody and get to the national championship.”
The men’s team has welcomed a fresh approach from first-year coach Marlon LeBlanc, a former Penn State assistant who took over in August for coach Mike Seaboldt, who was fired in July after alleged NCAA recruiting violations.
“We’d scrap for a goal and just pack it in,” said Carroll, whose older brothers, Jeff and Brian, play for D.C. United. “Ever since Marlon’s been here … we do more of attacking than we do defending. … I think it’s a better fit for us to go forward and try and get goals.”
She is third on the team in points with six goals and three assists, but Banks has been limited due to injury, but the team is hopeful of her full return by the start of the NCAA tournament, which begins Nov. 10.
Morgantown is still a football town — and its men’s basketball team continues to be on the rise — but both the men’s and women’s soccer teams are relishing each other’s success and will be in the stands when each hosts its Big East quarterfinal match this weekend.
“We’ve always supported our guys team,” said Bonilla. “It’s hard to say that the school was aware of that.”
Big East Championship Soccer quarterfinals
» Where: Dick Dlesk Stadium, Morgantown, W.Va.
Men
South Florida at West Virginia
» When: Saturday, 7 p.m.
Women
Pittsburgh/Louisville winner at West Virginia
» When: Sunday, 1 p.m.
