Men's Soccer: WVU Battles Back for OT Win
October 11, 2006 10:17 PM | General
October 11, 2006
BOX SCORE
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| Tony Lindroos | Reed Cooper |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 6 West Virginia University men’s soccer team scored on a last minute goal in regulation to force overtime and then defeated American, 2-1, on Wednesday, Oct. 11, in Morgantown, W.Va., at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (11-1-2, 6-0-1) fell behind in the 65th minute of play when American’s Garth Juckem snuck a goal past Nick Noble, putting WVU behind in a match for only the third time all season.
After their goal the Eagles (4-8-2, 1-1-1) dropped back into their defensive third and seemed content in escaping with a 1-0 upset. Their plan seemed to be on its way to working, however, true freshman Tony Lindroos played the role of spoiler.
With only 47 seconds left on the clock in a scrum in front of the goal midfielder Andy Wright poked a pass across the goal mouth to Lindroos who calmly sent the ball into the net. The shot by the Espoo, Finland, native was the only shot he took all evening and the first goal of his career.
It didn’t take West Virginia long to secure win No. 11 on the season as in the fourth minute of overtime Dan Stratford sent a low cross in off of a corner that junior Reed Cooper was able to punch in for his second goal of the season. Two of Cooper’s last three goals scored in his WVU career have come in overtime matches.
The Mountaineers dominated the game offensively as they out shot American 21-4. WVU tallied seven corners to the Eagles’ one.
Noble recorded two saves on the evening in the win, while AU goalkeeper Ryan Leonard made four saves and allowed both goals in the loss.
West Virginia hits the road on Saturday, Oct. 14, when it heads to Washington, D.C., to face BIG EAST Blue Division foe Georgetown at 1 p.m. The Mountaineers will enter that match knowing that it has secured its third consecutive BIG EAST tournament berth.
