New season kicks off Thursday with return of Yard Brawl
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Like many Mountaineer soccer followers, Shane Lyons has been eagerly awaiting the return of the Yard Brawl for years.
When he grew to become director of athletics at WVU in 2015, Lyons stated one among his high priorities was to place the Yard Brawl again on the schedule.
After years of ready, the return of the collection is upon us: West Virginia will open its 2022 schedule Thursday evening on the highway in opposition to the Panthers.
It’s one of the extremely anticipated season openers in current reminiscence for West Virginia, and Lyons thinks it’s been well worth the wait.
“I believed it was necessary for us. It’s necessary for school soccer to deliver again a few of these pure rivalries that we had for years, however convention realignment modified some issues,” Lyons stated final week in an unique interview for The Neal Brown Present. “For us, the Pitt recreation, taking part in Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech — to deliver these again to our followers, that’s what I imagine faculty soccer is all about.”
Thursday’s season opener would be the 105th assembly between West Virginia and Pitt on the soccer area. The sport has been introduced as a sellout.
However head coach Neal Brown and the Mountaineers are underdogs coming into their season-opening conflict with Pitt. The Panthers are the reigning ACC champs, whereas the Mountaineers completed their 2021 marketing campaign with a 6-7 document and a loss to Minnesota within the Assured Charge Bowl.
These information, not simply the rivalry between the colleges, make Thursday’s matchup “necessary” for the Mountaineers, in accordance with Lyons.
“It’s a giant recreation for the workforce to realize some momentum as we transfer ahead on this season,” Lyons stated. “Enhancements have to be made on the sphere within the 2022 season, and that’s our hope, to be bowl eligible, be eligible for the Massive 12 Championship, and be a contender for that.”
RELATED: 4 years added to Yard Brawl
One one that might assist the Mountaineers make a climb within the Massive 12 standings this season is new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, who beforehand coached at USC.
When the offseason started in January, Lyons and Brown agreed that the WVU offense wanted a “recent look,” and the director of athletics believes that’s one thing Harrell can present.
“You have a look at Graham’s previous historical past, he’s been recognized to start out off in a short time in a recreation, been very progressive,” Lyons stated. “We’re simply excited to have him as a part of that workers, his creativeness as an offensive coordinator, and just a few new mild that he brings to that offense.”
Harrell’s new-look offense will make its debut Thursday evening when the Mountaineers meet the Panthers at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Watch Gold and Blue Nation’s unique interview with Lyons on the high of this web page, and tune in to The Neal Brown Present this Friday and Saturday for one more dialog with WVU’s high athletics official.
