Men's Soccer: 2010 Season Review
February 01, 2011 01:09 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - With one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, the WVU men’s soccer team knew that 2010 was going to be a tough year to finish on top and qualify for the NCAA Tournament. After only scoring 13 goals in 2009, coach Marlon LeBlanc made the necessary personnel changes to help lead the team to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion, Akron. It was the first time since 2007 tat the team had qualified.
The Mountaineers finished the season with an 11-8-2 record, including a 10-1 mark at home. The 10 home victories are tied with the 2006 squad for the most in program history and currently is the longest home winning streak in the NCAA. The 11 win mark was the most since 2007. The team earned the No. 4 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament and continued its streak of qualifying for postseason play each year since 2004.
The team also ranked 23rd nationally in total attendance and 28th in average attendance per match. The strength of schedule was ranked 13th in the country and the final non-adjusted RPI was ranked 25th. Academically, the team once again was awarded a team academic award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
At the conclusion of the season, West Virginia had a No. 25 ranking according to TopDrawerSoccer.com and at the annual team banquet defender Eric Schoenle was awarded the Player’s Player of the Year, while Ruben Garrido was given the Coach’s Award.
The season opened on Sept. 3 in the annual WVU Nike Classic against No. 9 Monmouth. Throughout the week, LeBlanc and the marketing department were promoting to try and get the most fans in Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium history. Over 2,200 came out, the second most in WVU men’s soccer history, to support the Mountaineers in the season opener and WVU did not fail disappoint. Although WVU took a 1-0 loss in double overtime, they were able to out-shoot the Hawks 21-5, including 8-0 in the first half. The Mountaineers controlled the pace of play for the majority of the game and were led by captain Raymon Gaddis who was electrifying every time he got a touch. West Virginia also hit the crossbar twice.
Seeing the Monmouth performance, 1,041 fans came out two days later to see the Mountaineers take on No. 23 UNC Wilmington, this time the Mountaineers won 3-2 in double overtime. Allan Flott, Matt Drake and Franck Tayou scored their first goals in a WVU uniform in the win. The game-winning goal came on a cross from Shadow Sebele who crossed it from the right side of the field. Uwem was then able to flick it to Tayou who was there to bang the shot home in the 102nd minute. Gaddis, Flott and Schoenle were all named to the all-tournament team.
After a tough 2-1 loss to William & Mary in the Stihl Soccer Classic, the Mountaineers were able to come back in the second game of the tournament and defeat host Old Dominion, 2-1. West Virginia went up 1-0 in the 31st minute on a goal from Tayou, however the Monarchs scored in the 70th minute to tie it at 1-1. With time winding down, Schoenle scored his first-career goal on a header off a corner from Travis Pittman to secure the victory. The win started a streak that saw the Mountaineers win four consecutive matches.
At home in front of 1,149 fans, West Virginia used three second half goals to defeat Cal State Fullerton, 3-1. Peabo Doue led the charge netting two goals, while also having a cross go off a Titan defender’s back to put the game out of reach.
Two days later against undefeated James Madison, Doue scored yet another goal in 19th minute to secure a 1-0 shutout over the Dukes in front of 1,123 fans.
In the first BIG EAST game against DePaul, the Mountaineers were able to score the most goals in game since 2006 as they defeated the Blue Demons 5-0. After an even opening minutes, the Mountaineers were able to break down the DePaul defense and Tayou opened the scoring in the 17th minute from Gaddis and Sebele. Doue continued his hot streak with a goal five minutes later from Jay Williams, while Drake scored the third goal of the half in the 40th minute on a blast past two DePaul defenders. West Virginia continued to stay strong in the second half and Sebele converted a penalty kick to put West Virginia up 4-0. Julio Arjona ended the on-slaught with a bender from 35 yards out past the sprawling DePaul goalkeeper.
In a mid-week non-conference tilt at Duquense, the Mountaineers were hoping to continue the winning streak, but were unable to get a goal and played to a scoreless double overtime draw with the Dukes. One bright spot for the Mountaineers was with four minutes remaining in the game when Duquesne was awarded a penalty kick that goalkeeper Zach Johnson dove and punched out of the way to preserve his third-straight shutout.
The unbeaten streak was snapped due to a 1-0 loss at Georgetown in a game that saw very few scoring opportunities with Georgetown taking advantage of a WVU miscue. After a Georgetown cross, Garrido turned around and accidentally tripped a Hoya and the play was called for a penalty kick. Ian Christianson was able to convert to secure the victory.
West Virginia then traveled to Elon looking for revenge on 2009’s tie in which Elon scored in the final two minutes to tie the match. Unfortunately, this game ended the same way with Schoenle scoring a goal in 61st minute and Elon tying the game with only 12 seconds remaining.
The Mountaineers went on to win two more consecutive games at home against Notre Dame, 2-1, and Pitt, 2-0. Sebele and Tayou each scored against the Fighting Irish, while Ruben Garrido and Sebele scored second half goals in front of 1,470 fans against Pitt.
WVU went on their longest road trip of the season the following weekend and the wear and tear from the trip turned out to be too much as West Virginia was shutout by No. 22 USF, 1-0, and No. 5 Connecticut, 2-0.
Fortunately for West Virginia their following two games were at home where they proved deadly all season. After giving up a late goal to Seton Hall to give the Pirates the 2-1 lead, Schoenle scored a goal in the 88th minute to force overtime and then in the 93rd minute to give WVU the 3-2 victory.
In a must-win game against Marquette, West Virginia scored three goals in the final 28 minutes to shutout the Golden Eagles for the fifth shutout of the season. Tayou scored the first and third goals, while Sebele scored the second.
After a 1-0 loss on the road to Providence in the final regular season game, the Mountaineers earned the No. 4 seed in the BIG EAS Tournament and were scheduled to face USF in a must-win game that had NCAA Tournament implications. After going up on a goal by Etuk in the 17th minute, USF was able to tie the game in the 33rd minute at 1-1. Schoenle then scored another game-winner in the 50th minute to secure the win and a place in the quarterfinals against No.1 Louisville.
In a game that was played heavily in the midfield, WVU made mistakes early in the second half and Louisville scored two goals to secure a 2-0 victory. The Cardinals went on the win the BIG EAST Tournament and was Akron’s opponent in the NCAA Championship match.
After an exciting watch party, the Mountaineers were awarded a spot in the NCAA Tournament against Xavier, a Cinderella story team that was only in the tournament after winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Mountaineers scored four unanswered goals, including three from Tayou to defeat the Musketeers 4-2 after Xavier went up 2-0 in the first five minutes of the match.
In what turned out to be the final match of the season, the Mountaineers fell 3-2 at Akron in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. West Virginia, however, did not go down without a fight as they received goals in the final eight minutes from Sebele and Uzi Tayou to put a scare into the eventual national champions.
By the conclusion of the season, Johnson made his mark in the record book owning a part in all of the goalkeeper records. Johnson finished his career first in goalkeeper minutes (7,548), first in goals-against average (0.71), second in shutouts (36) and fourth in goalkeeper saves (282).
With the squad losing only three players to graduation, the 2011 lineup will likely stay similar, minus Hagey and Johnson. The team returns one of the top offensive and defensive units in the country and will likely look to make a splash in the BIG EAST and national level.
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