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WVU Sends Seniors Out with Dramatic Win
November 06, 2015 09:43 PM | Men's Soccer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three goals were scored in the final 4:06, but it was the game winner by junior midfielder Jack Elliott at 88:59 that gave the West Virginia University men’s soccer team a dramatic 3-2 victory over Northern Illinois in the regular season finale on Friday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (7-11-0, 2-3-0 Mid-American Conference) kept their postseason hopes alive thanks to goals in the 42nd, 78th and 89th minutes. The Huskies (7-7-1, 1-3-1) attempted to spoil WVU’s senior night with two goals in less than three minutes to tie the match at 2-2 before Elliott’s game winner.
“This is the kind of stuff that’s been going on all year long, but we found a way to get a result, and for that we’ll take it and move on,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “We’ve talked about all the challenges we’ve had this year, a lot of the shortcomings that we’ve had. I was just happy we didn’t have to go to overtime. We deserved to win tonight. NIU played awfully hard. You have to give them credit. They threw the ball forward as much as they could in the last five minutes and pushed four or five guys up against our back line and just tried to battle and they got two goals to get back into it.”
Coming into Friday’s match, just one point separated three teams, including WVU and NIU, from a spot in the MAC Championship. With Friday’s win, the Mountaineers need Akron to win or draw vs. Bowling Green on Saturday to advance to their fourth consecutive MAC Championship.
“We’re hopeful that Akron gets at least a draw against Bowling Green tomorrow,” LeBlanc said. “If they’re able to do that for us, then we get to hit the reset button on our season and everything’s fair game now at this stage. Hopefully, knock on wood, we have a game to play on Friday night.”
Friday night, sophomore Joey Piatczyc scored in the 42nd minute, and the Mountaineers took a 2-0 lead in the 77th minute on a goal by junior Felix Angerer. In the 86th minute though, NIU cut the lead in half, and less than three minutes later, the Huskies evened the score at 2-2.
It took 22 seconds for the Mountaineers to answer with the winning goal.
Off a free kick on the left side from 30 yards out, Piatczyc sent a shot towards the net. Elliott was standing eight yards out on the left side of the goal and headed the ball in. It was Elliott’s second career game-winning goal.
For Piatczyc, it was his nation-leading 13th assist of the season and broke the program record for assists in a season. The goal and assist also gave Piatczyc a team-high 17 points on the year.
WVU totaled 22 shots in the contest, six on goal. NIU had 11 shots, three on net. Freshman Alec Boerner had one save, while the Huskies’ Andrew Glaeser had three.
The Mountaineers took a 1-0 lead at 41:29. From outside the box, Elliott chipped the ball across the field to sophomore Jad Arslan, who retrieved it near the end line several yards to the left of the goal. Arslan dribbled once and fired a cross in towards the goal from six yards out, where Piatczyc used his head to send the ball into the back of the net.
West Virginia gained a 2-0 advantage at 77:06 thanks to Angerer. Sophomore Heath Honold had the ball just outside the box on the right side and sent a pass in to Angerer at the top of the box. Angerer dribbled into the box on the left side, paused, and buried a shot over the kneeling keeper’s head into the top of the net.
NIU’s Taylor Cole scored both of the Huskies’ goals, at 85:54 and at 88:32.
Angerer and Elliott both had two shots on goal in the contest for WVU, while senior Zak Leedom and Piatczyc each had one. Elliott notched a team-high four shots, while seniors Francio Henry and Ryan Cain had three.
Before the match, WVU honored its senior class of Haydon Bennett, Ivo Cabral, Ryan Cain, Francio Henry, Griffin Libhart, Zak Leedom and Jamie Merriam.
Celebrating a special senior class! #HailWV pic.twitter.com/eMR6N3e9k6
— West Virginia Soccer (@WVUMensSoccer) November 6, 2015
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