Men's Soccer: WVU Ties Loyola Marymount
October 12, 2005 10:27 PM | General
October 12, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University men’s soccer team tied Loyola Marymount 1-1 on Wednesday evening in Morgantown, W.Va., at the Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (8-4-2, 4-2-1 BIG EAST) and Lions (4-4-3, 2-2-0 WAC) played a very even match throughout the 110 minutes of play. Both teams fended off one another with solid defensive back lines and allowed no goals through the first 70 minutes of play.
LMU struck first in the 72nd minute when midfielder Trini Gomez took a pass from defender Bo Miller eight yards in front of the goal. There was little WVU goalkeeper Nick Noble could do as the short range shot found the back of the net for Gomez’s fourth goal of the season.
The Mountaineers picked up the pace offensively late in the match and saw almost every scoring opportunity they had pass by with near misses. As the clock ticked down in the 88th minute sophomore midfielder Dan Stratford was able to provide some late-game heroics.
Freshman forward Zak Boggs deflected a ball to the foot of the London, England native who was waiting at the top of the goal box for a chance at an equalizer. Stratford collected the ball and drove in his third goal of the season.
In overtime both teams once again traded blows with neither one able to find the knockout punch. The Lions ended the match with 18 shots showing on the score sheet, while WVU posted 16. Both teams recorded four corner kicks.
Noble posted six saves on the evening in 110 minutes of play, while LMU’s Miguel Benitez tallied three in the match. Five of Noble’s saves came in the second period.
The Mountaineers will look to hold on to its share of the BIG EAST’s Blue Division lead when it travels to conference foe Seton Hall on Saturday, Oct. 15, for a 7 p.m. match. The game location has been changed to the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s field in Newark, N.J., due to poor field conditions at the Pirates usual home field.
