The spring season in college soccer can be a bit of a chore.

The matches don’t exactly count and with a season length even more limited by NCAA rules than the main season in the fall, it can come and leave before you knew it was there. That hasn’t been the case for the West Virginia women’s program this year.

Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown took the team on a 10-day tour of Czech Republic and Italy, working 4 matches in with training and a host of cultural and tourist activities. NCAA rules allow program take such a trip every 4 years, and Izzo-Brown has been right on cue with her program, taking squads to Brazil and Italy during her 12 years at the Morgantown school.

From the sounds and looks of it, the soccer was ok and the experience was much more than OK for the Mountaineers.

“It was huge for team bonding and chemistry,” said junior defender Kelsey Fowler. “We’re all over there experiencing this and doing everything, for the most part, all together. It’s going to make us closer as a group.”

That was part of the objective for Izzo-Brown, but not all of it.

“It wasn’t like a sports psychology ropes course or something, but when you’re planning a trip you try to make sure the activities are things we can do as a group and will help bring us together,” Izzo-Brown said. “My perspective of course is a little different than the girls, but the lifelong experiences are a lot of why I do it. Kids who play sports often can’t go abroad and study or other things a regular student could do. This is a chance for them to experience a different culture and I think it was a tremendous opportunity for all of us.”

Along with the sightseeing in Prague, Rome and Sardinia, the squad had a daily soccer regimen. The best match by far was a 3-2 win over women’s professional side Sparta Prague. Freshman Megan Mischler served as team heroine for that contest, scoring a hat trick and also clearing a shot off the line on the defensive end. Fowler said the match served as a good test for WVU’s patience and discipline.

“They were very good technically. They were good at moving the ball around. We were not as used to they way they did that,” Fowler said. “They were more of a side-to-side style and then picked the spots to go forward. There forwards made some perfect runs and had good timing, so that was kind of hard defensively. We’re more used to the American style, which is so much more physical.”

That wasn’t the only difference Fowler noticed.

“When you watch the men play on TV you see the diving, well we got to see that first hand. They definitely have more of a flair for the dramatic,” she said. “We definitely adapted. We still went hard but we had to be more careful about it.”

WVU defeated another pro side, Slavia Prague, 2-0 in the 2^nd game, with Deana Everett scoring twice and Kerri Butler and Mallory Beck combined for a shutout.

Moving on to Italy, Carolyn Blank scored 2 goals to lead the squad to a 2-0 win over Roma Calcio Femminile, with Mischler and Lisa Ducote earning assists. Butler and Beck again shared goalkeeping duties. In the tour finale in Sardinia, Everett scored twice and Blank, Mischler, Cassandra Deitrick and Morgan Betscher added singles in a 6-1 romp over Villaputzu.

For Fowler, a midfielder who was used in central defense on the trip, the soccer value was very tangible as well.

“It’s definitely helpful. We’ve lost 5 seniors this past year. This will help people step into their spots and a find the right way to play together,” the former Pittsburgh Strikers club player said. “We played Penn State at the beginning of March and I see a huge difference in the team from then to now. We’re really starting to come together.”

Izzo-Brown, who credited her team with adapting quickly to the new environment, is also expecting the to reap a soccer benefit from the trip.

It’s good to see a different style of play and they definitely play a different style in Europe,” she said. “They are not as physical or athletic, but they have good technique and are a little more soccer-savvy. We can take what we saw and apply it to Big East games or any type of college atmosphere really.”