MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the sixth consecutive match, the No. 24-ranked West Virginia University men's soccer team shut out its opponent with a 3-0 victory over American on Tuesday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
The Mountaineers (5-1-1) remain unbeaten in their last six matches, outscoring the opposition 9-0 and going 4-0-1 on a five-match homestand. The Eagles (3-2-3) were held scoreless for the first time this season despite recording 17 shots, seven on goal.
Junior goalkeeper
Jose Santos notched his sixth shutout of the season, making a career-high seven saves. He extended his shutout streak to more than 615 minutes.
“It's been a good run and were defending very well,” WVU coach
Marlon LeBlanc said. “They were a difficult team to defend against because they just put the ball forward every single time they got it. They tried to push it in the box and our back four were warriors, our midfield scrapped and fought, and we had to tonight because of the style they're going to play. When you play against teams that are direct like that you have to be able to get in the trenches and battle. We got in the trenches and battled today.”
As good as Santos and the defense was, the offense was just as good. WVU scored three goals for the second consecutive match, totaling 10 shots, seven on goal.
Senior forward
Felix Angerer gave the Mountaineers an early 1-0 lead 11 minutes into the match for his second goal of the season. A minute into the second half, sophomore forward
Rushawn Larmond netted his first goal of the year to increase the WVU advantage to 2-0. Just over seven minutes later, senior midfielder
Griffin Libhart scored his first career goal, a highlight-reel play to put West Virginia ahead, 3-0.
“We were creating chances before, interestingly enough we're up in the top-25, top-30 teams in terms of shots in a game and shots on goal,” LeBlanc said of WVU's offensive success before back-to-back three-goal games. “We were creating chances, we just weren't finishing them. In the last two games, we've punished our opponent. Tonight we punished them severally and I think this team is starting to get in a little bit of a rhythm. Starting to get a little bit of that winning becoming a habit type thing, and now we're hungry for our next match.”
Angerer led the team with four shots, three on goal, while Larmond added three shots, all on goal.
For the second consecutive match, WVU scored early in the contest. Angerer's first shot was saved, but he took advantage of the rebound and found the back of the net, at 10:56. On a ball served into the box, Angerer's shot from point-blank range was saved, but it rebounded right back to Angerer, who headed in for a 1-0 lead.
The Eagles kept pace with West Virginia, but excellent goalkeeping from Santos kept the lead intact. In the 10th minute, Santos stopped a strike from inside the box that almost got away, but he was able to cover it up for the save. American's best opportunity came in the 20th minute, when a ball from Vinny Barone went off the goal and down the goal line. However, West Virginia was able to the clear the ball and hold on to their lead heading into halftime.
Just like WVU's last match, the Mountaineers tallied a goal in the first five minutes of the second half. Tonight's goal came at 46:03 off a free kick. Junior midfielder
Joey Piatczyc took the kick and sent the ball into the box, where it went off senior defender
Jack Elliott's head straight to Larmond. The sophomore took advantage of the bounce and put the ball in the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
Just over seven minutes later, with WVU holding a 2-0 lead, Libhart put a spectacular back-heel kick into the net off a ball in from junior midfielder
Jad Arslan.
West Virginia's defense held back any chances from the Eagles for the remaining 37 minutes. AU recorded seven second-half shots, and Santos notched seven saves to preserve the shutout.
The Mountaineers hit the road for the first time in nearly a month when they travel to Greensboro, N.C., to face UNCG on Saturday, September 24, at 7 p.m. ET. A live stream can be found on SoConDigitalNetwork.com, while live stats will be available on UNCGSpartans.com.
WVU Soccer Scarf ticket packages are now on sale and includes the official 2016 WVU Soccer fan scarf and 10 tickets to be used at any men's or women's home matches during the regular season. Packages are just $30 and are available while supplies last. To order, visit
WVUGAME.com or call 1-800-WVU GAME. More information is available on
WVUSports.com.
Additionally, single-game tickets for all nine regular-season home matches are now on sale at
WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800-WVU-GAME.
