Hot Shots
October 18, 2006 01:51 PM | General
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
October 18, 2006
October 18, 2006
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| Jarrod Smith | Nick Noble |
October 18, 2006 01:51 PM | General
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| Jarrod Smith | Nick Noble |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Even if you're not a big soccer fan, tonight’s West Virginia-Notre Dame match at Dick Dlesk Stadium is one you might want to check out.
It features two top 10 programs, two of the nation’s best goal scorers in Notre Dame’s Joseph Lapira and West Virginia’s Jarrod Smith, two of the country’s top goal keepers in West Virginia’s Nick Noble and Notre Dame’s Chris Cahill, and a whole lot in between.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t like soccer or ever been to a soccer game – if you’ve got Mountaineer blood in you this is a game you should be at cheering on your team and supporting these guys that have come so far,” said West Virginia coach Marlon LeBlanc.
Yesterday, the Mountaineers achieved its highest ever spot in the national rankings coming in fourth in the NSCAA (coaches’ poll). West Virginia’s 12-1-2 record has caught the nation by surprise and the Mountaineers could actually wrap up their first Big East regular season divisional title with a combination of a victory tonight and a Connecticut loss at Marquette.
The Huskies have a regular season match remaining against Notre Dame while West Virginia has a pair of matches left against Providence and Pitt.
“We have a game advantage over everyone else in our division,” LeBlanc said.
Tonight, West Virginia is facing one of the hottest teams in the country in the No. 6-rated Irish coached by one of the best in the business in Bobby Clark. Notre Dame (11-3-2) has won seven in a row and has allowed just one goal in its last six matches – a 4-1 win against Georgetown on Oct. 7.
Irish junior forward Joseph Lapira is the top offensive player in the country. He had five straight two-goal games earlier this year and comes into Wednesday night’s match having scored goals in each of his last seven matches. Lapira’s 19 goals and 41 points lead the country.
“He is scoring goals like they are going out of style right now,” LeBlanc said. “He does a lot on his own but a lot of the space he gets is created from the players around him.”
LeBlanc is also impressed with freshman midfielder Michael Thomas.
“For me, he is the player to really watch at center midfield,” LeBlanc said. “He is an excellent young player. He pulls the strings for them and can change games.”
Irish keeper Chris Cahill comes into tonight’s match trailing just WVU’s Nick Noble among Big East keepers. Noble leads the conference with an 0.64 goals against average while Cahill is second at 0.67.
“This is going to be the best organized team we’ve played this year,” LeBlanc said. “In my opinion Bobby Clark may be the best coach in college right now and he does such a great job. He does it the right way and his teams do it the right way.
“They are not going to beat themselves. A lot of our game involves putting pressure on the other team and making them beat themselves,” LeBlanc said.
West Virginia brings a six-match win streak into tonight’s match. Most recently, West Virginia beat Georgetown 2-0 on the road last Saturday. The Mountaineers have not permitted a goal in their last three conference victories against Connecticut, Marquette and Georgetown.
“Nobody would have said we would be 12-1-2 right now,” LeBlanc noted. “I couldn’t be more pleased with these guys with how far we’ve come during the preseason and where we’re hopefully heading in the coming month.”
Tonight’s match gets underway at 7 pm. Fans that can’t make the match can listen on the Internet through CSTV All Access or by following the free GameTracker livestats service.
