Men's Soccer: WVU Falls to Villanova
September 18, 2005 10:36 PM | General
September 18, 2005
The West Virginia University men’s soccer team dropped a tough decision to Villanova 2-1 on Sunday in Villanova, Pa.
The Mountaineers (4-3-0, 1-1-0) controlled the first half of play despite being tied with the Wildcats (3-3-0, 2-0-0) in the shot column at six apiece.
West Virginia took the lead midway through the first half off of its fourth consecutive restart goal of the weekend. In the 23 minute defender Andrew Halsell stepped up and drilled a hard, bending shot towards goalkeeper Jason Friel that he could not handle. The ball spun away from Friel’s fingertips and found its way into the back of the net.
The goal marked the first of Halsell’s career.
WVU’s defense played lights out as it only allowed one shot to reach the gloves of goalkeeper Nick Noble, and that one merely trickled back to him.
The Mountaineers seemed to maintain their momentum in the match until the 59th minute when a mis-kick became disastrous. Halsell attempted a clearance just outside of the penalty box but the ball squirted off his foot and right to the foot of a streaking Joe Taylor. The forward took the ball and only had Noble to beat, which he did to the right post to make the score 1-1.
While the game was very physical from the onset, the tied score seemed to heat the emotions even more as both teams went all out for the rest of the match.
With only 4:35 remaining on the scoreboard clock it appeared that overtime was inevitable, however, the Wildcats’ Patrick Gallagher would make sure it wouldn’t reach that point. In the midst of a tussle in front of the Mountaineer goal Gallagher found himself with the ball and poked it past Noble.
WVU tried in desperation as the seconds ticked away but it could not find a way to equalize the score before the final whistle.
Noble recorded two saves on the day, while Villanova’s Friel turned away four.
The Wildcats came away in front of just about every offensive statistical category including shots (14-10) and corner kicks (3-2).
The Mountaineers will get its first shot to rebound from the loss on Friday, Sept. 3, when they play host to South Florida in Morgantown. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
