Men's Soccer: WVU Sinks Seton Hall in Thriller
September 23, 2006 10:12 PM | General
September 23, 2006
BOX SCORE
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| Jarrod Smith |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 8 West Virginia University men’s soccer team scored a season-high three goals in the second half to blow past No. 21 Seton Hall, 5-3, on Saturday evening at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va.
The Mountaineers’ (7-1-2, 4-0-1) five goals scored against the Pirates stand as the most ever scored by a WVU team against a BIG EAST opponent in school history. The five goals are also more than the team had scored in the previous three meetings combined against Seton Hall.
West Virginia is now an impressive 2-1-1 against ranked teams so far this season.
Senior forward Jarrod Smith got the goal scoring underway in the sixth minute of play when he drilled a shot off of SHU goalkeeper Ian Joyce that deflected in into the net.
The Pirates fired back with two goals shortly after. Leading goal scorer Eliseo Giusfredi put his team on the board on a penalty kick in the 12th minute and then assisted on a goal by David Roman in the 31st minute.
WVU earned a penalty kick of its own less than two minutes later when junior midfielder Andy Wright was taken down in the box. Fellow midfielder Dan Stratford finished off the PK opportunity to make the score 2-2 heading into halftime.
Smith came calling again in the 50th minute as he ripped a perfectly placed shot to the upper right corner of the net. The two goals give the Havelock North, New Zealand, native eight on the season, tying his career high set in 2005.
Freshman Ryan Gillespie gave the Mountaineers some breathing room as he scored his second goal of the season in the 62nd minute. The Virginia Beach, Va., native was assisted by Pat Carroll and Mike Anoia.
Despite a two-goal lead West Virginia was not done scoring as Smith dribbled the ball down the left side of the field and crossed it in to Wright, who buried his third goal of the season.
Seton Hall’s Austin Nyquist made the score a bit more respectable when he took advantage of backup WVU goalkeeper Ryan Chance fumbling the ball in front of the goal mouth and netted his first goal of the season.
Starting goalkeeper Nick Noble allowed two goals in 85 minutes of play on the evening. The senior ended the match with eight saves, just one save short of tying his career high nine saves made against New Mexico in 2005. Chance allowed one goal and made one save in five minutes of work.
Seton Hall’s Joyce made three saves, while allowing all five Mountaineer goals.
West Virginia hits the road again on Wednesday, Sept. 27, when it faces Penn State at Jeffrey Field in University Park, Pa. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. WVU head coach Marlon LeBlanc served as a Nittany Lion assistant from 2001-05, before coming to Morgantown in August.
