WVU Golden Goal Wins it at SIUE

Saturday, November 4

Edwardsville, Ill.

8:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

9-5-4, 1-2-2MAC

SIUE

7-9-1, 2-3-0MAC

OT 2

West Virginia University

SIUE

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

November 04, 2017 11:36 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

By: Charlie Healy

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A golden goal by sophomore Sebastian Garcia-Herreros propelled the West Virginia University men's soccer team to a 2-1 overtime victory at SIUE on Saturday night in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Playing their seventh overtime game of the season and fourth in Mid-American Conference action, the Mountaineers (9-5-4, 1-2-2 MAC) found the game-winner in the 98th minute.

"It was a must-win game for us, and we got the job done on the road, we've been so good on the road this year," WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "We have to give a lot of credit to SIUE for fighting back and finding the equalizer. I think we had a couple of really good chances to win it earlier, once in regulation and once at the end in overtime. We had a couple of good sequences in overtime and were really pushing for the game winner, and I'm proud of my guys for getting it done."

Garcia-Herreros converted from five yards out near the far post at 97:46, scoring below the diving SIUE keeper. The play began with a ball from sophomore Albert Andres-Llop to junior Rushawn Larmond, which was deflected on the pass to Garcia-Herreros before he scored his second goal of the season.

"We had a couple of good entry passes," LeBlanc said of the lead-up to the game-winning goal. "We just kept the ball alive and it found it's way back to Sebastian in a little bit of a scramble. He really calmly, almost as if it was in slow motion, hit it under the goalkeeper. I thought we deserved it, we had one of our better offensive outings in terms of really putting pressure on the goalkeeper.

West Virginia took a 1-0 lead at 24:37 on Larmond's penalty kick. His second goal of the season came as a result of a foul called on SIUE on the goal line. The play began with a cross from the near corner into the box.

The Cougars evened the score at 1-1 in the 57th minute.

"Hopefully we're playing next weekend," LeBlanc said. "But, I think our resume is pretty strong and I think we've given ourselves a shot at an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament if we don't get into the MAC Tournament next weekend."

With the win in the regular-season finale, the Mountaineers have five points and are in fourth place in the MAC standings, a week before the MAC Tournament. Bowling Green, just behind WVU with four points, concludes the regular season tomorrow at No. 5 Western Michigan. WVU will qualify for the MAC Tournament with a BG loss to WMU, who has already secured the No. 1 seed and will host next weekend's four-team conference tournament.

Garcia-Herreros and senior Jad Arslan led WVU with three shots, while Garcia-Herreros had two on net. Freshman keeper Steven Tekesky made two saves for the Mountaineers. WVU had nine shots to SIUE's 13, while the Mountaineers had five shots on goal and the Cougars (7-9-1, 2-3-0 MAC) had three. SIUE keeper Kyle Del Santo had three saves.

The Cougars had the game's first chance, on a free kick in the 10th minute, but a WVU defender headed it out. On the ensuing corner kick, Tekesky made his first save on a header.

Seven minutes later, Tekesky did a nice job to make a stop on a cross in from the end line to prevent a chance on net by SIUE.

In the 20th minute, Arslan's shot hit the crossbar, just missing an opportunity to give the Mountaineers an early advantage. Following back-to-back corner kicks in the 20th minute for West Virginia, Larmond's penalty kick goal was set up in the 24th minute.

Garcia-Herreros sent a shot high in the 35th minute before SIUE had several opportunities in the final minutes of the first half.

SIUE had a chance on a header off a cross into the box, but it went wide in the 40th minute. The Cougars also had a shot go high and a long free kick that was scooped up by Tekesky in the final minutes of the opening half.

The home side had chances early in the second half, with a shot that hit the post in the 49th minute before the game-tying goal in the 57th minute.

The header goal by Joahn DePicker came at 56:05. The play began on a corner kick, before Greg Solawa sent a cross to DePicker who headed it in.

Ten minutes later, a Cougar free kick went just high, and then a cross in was poked away by Tekesky to halt the SIUE opportunity.

Arslan registered his second shot of the match in the 75th minute, but it was saved. Larmond followed with a blocked shot four minutes later.

West Virginia had offensive pressure in the final five minutes of the second half, but was unable to find the back of the net. In the 85th minute, Garcia-Herreros had a shot saved, and Andres-Llop had a long shot in from 25 yards out, also saved. The Mountaineers had a chance on a corner kick a minute later, but could not get a shot off.

In overtime, Arslan nearly won it for the Mountaineers a minute before Garcia-Herreros scored his golden goal.

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUMensSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.