MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s women’s soccer team will find themselves performing before a nationwide television audience on Oct. 18 when Fox Soccer Channel broadcasts the Mountaineers’ Big 12 Conference clash with Oklahoma. The glare of publicity isn’t likely to unsettle WVU’s junior forward Frances Silva.

Overland Park, Kan. native Silva spends her days away from the soccer field scuttling around Morgantown with her video camera, voice recorder, reporter’s notebook and pen as she works toward a major in broadcast journalism at the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

Frances Silva, journalist

Silva, a self-confessed ESPN SportsCenter junkie who possesses a trove of “useless knowledge” when it comes to sports, grabbed her first taste of reporting during a job-shadowing project in eighth grade. She quickly realized that her boundless passion for soccer, college basketball and football could be harnessed into a journalism career.

“I don’t mind being on camera,” Silva told TopDrawerSoccer.com in an interview at the WVU women’s training complex. “I like producing a lot, putting everything together. That’s probably the most exciting part. It’s probably what I’m going to try to do next year with the WVU News class.”

Silva has been producing her own headlines on the field this season as Big 12 debutants West Virginia have stormed to the top of the standings with five wins from their opening five conference games. Silva leads the team with 10 goals in total – with nine in her last seven appearances – and she received Disney/NSCAA Player of the Week honors on Sept. 26 following her late game-winning goals against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

Much of WVU’s success stems from Silva’s partnership with sophomore striker Kate Schwindel, the NSCAA’s current Player of the Week. Schwindel assisted on both of Silva’s goals in last weekend’s 3-2 win at Iowa State and also created the first goal for freshman Kelsie Maloney, the third cog in head coach Nikki Izzo-Brown’s dynamic front line. It was the second time this season that Schwindel registered a hat-trick of assists.

The interchanging between WVU’s three forwards bears a resemblance to Sporting Kansas City’s style of play in Major League Soccer. The club’s head coach Peter Vermes conducted training sessions for Silva’s former Blue Valley North High School teams “once in a while,” she said. Still, the success of her hometown team hasn’t particularly influenced her game.

“As good as MLS is, and obviously Sporting K.C. are pretty good, I pay more attention to the Barcelonas of the world,” Silva said. “I think our movement is a reflection of everyone’s knowledge of the sport.

“Having played for however many years you pick up certain things from watching certain teams and you build chemistry on the field,” Silva said. “Schwin and I know where each other are going to be and we make those runs that some people just aren’t going to make.”

Silva won’t be the first athlete from Blue Valley North to be performing live on national television. Tennis player Jack Sock, currently ranked No. 220 in the world in singles, lost to Andy Roddick under the Friday night floodlights of Arthur Ashe Stadium during last year’s U.S. Open tournament before lifting the mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin. Sock studied in the year beneath Silva along with Sporting Kansas City’s back-up goalkeeper Jon Kempin.

“It’s pretty exciting to follow kids that I went to high school with,” Silva said. “They’re both still young and early in their careers, so hopefully we’ll get to see a lot more of them on TV.”

Silva hopes to earn a master’s degree in sports management at WVU when she concludes her undergraduate journalism training next spring. She’ll continue to pursue a career as a soccer player for as long as she can, she said, before trying to make her mark on the other side of the touchline.

Ian Thomson is a freelance soccer reporter and founder of The Soccer Observer Web site. Follow him on Twitter at @SoccerObserver.

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