Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A pair of late goals lifted the West Virginia University men's soccer team to its first Mid-American Conference regular-season title with a dramatic, 3-2 victory over Bowling Green on Friday night.
 
On a rain-soaked night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, the Mountaineers (12-5-0, 4-0-0 MAC) rallied twice to remain perfect in MAC play and win their first conference title since 2006. WVU erased deficits of 1-0 and 2-1, tying the match at 2-2 in the 85th minute and netting the game-winner in the 88th.
 
Junior midfielder Andres Muriel Albino scored West Virginia's first two goals, while senior midfielder Joey Piatczyc added the eventual winning goal.
 
"It was an amazing amount of resiliency," WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "We felt like we were going to score, we got the goal, we fell behind and still felt like we were going to score again. What an amazing effort, total team effort. We made mistakes; it wasn't perfect, but we got the job done."
 
With the victory, WVU clinched the No. 1 seed and will host the MAC Tournament, on Nov. 9 and 11, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
 
The Mountaineers improved to 8-1-0 at home and won their fourth consecutive match while handing the Falcons (5-6-4, 1-1-2) their first loss in seven matches. WVU has come back to win all four MAC matches after trailing 1-0.
 
West Virginia fell behind 1-0 in the fourth minute, but Muriel Albino tied the match minutes into the second half, at 47:28. However, Bowling Green answered back in the 56th minute on a penalty kick, to reclaim a 2-1 lead. The Mountaineers applied heavy offense pressure and broke through with the match-tying goal at 84:16, off the foot of Muriel Albino. Piatczyc then gave WVU its first lead of the match at 87:29.
 
Piatczyc's game-winning goal is his second in as many matches. He has 21 career game-winning points, sixth-most in program history.
 
Senior midfielder Jorge Quintanilla earned assists on West Virginia's first and third goals, while junior defenders Albert Andres-Llop and Pascal Derwaritsch assisted on the second goal.
 
Freshman midfielder Josh DiMatteo paced the squad with four shots, and Muriel Albino led the team with three shots on goal. The two-goal match was Muriel Albino's first as a Mountaineer. WVU out-shot BGSU, 16-9, with a 5-2 edge in shots on goal. Ten of West Virginia's 16 shots, and all five shots on goal, came in the second half.
 
The Falcons took a 1-0 lead at 3:45 on a goal by Moe Mustafa. Jensen Lukacsko got the assist, on a ball he volleyed a ball inside the box to Mustafa, who beat sophomore goalkeeper Steven Tekesky to the left.
 
The Mountaineers tied the match, at 1-1, at 47:28. Quintanilla sent a ball into the top of the box to Muriel Albino. He had an open look inside the 18, and buried it into the top right corner of the net.
 
Eight minutes later, at 55:46, the Falcons regained a 2-1 lead. A BGSU attacker was taken down inside the box, and Ebenezer Ackon converted on the penalty kick.
 
After several good chances for West Virginia in the next 30 minutes, Muriel Albino tied it up at 84:16. From Derwaritsch, Andres-Llop sent a good ball through the box onto the foot of Muriel Albino, who converted from near the end line, beating the keeper on the far post.
 
Three minutes later, WVU took the lead, at 87:29. After the ball was loose in the box and sent back out, Quintanilla found an open Piatczyc, who scored from the corner of the six to the far post.
 
Trailing 1-0, the Mountaineers had a great chance in the 17th minute, and another in the 19th. The first came on a strike by DiMatteo, who sent a ball high. Senior forward Rushawn Larmond then made a great play to spin past the BGSU defense and chipped the ball past a charging Mwembia. However, his shot glanced off the crossbar and back into the six, where Bowling Green's keeper was there.
 
Late in the first half, West Virginia had several corner kicks and a free kick in the final third, but could not get a shot off.
 
The second half began quickly, with Muriel Albino's goal. The Falcons regained the lead eight minutes later, but WVU continued to apply offensive pressure and held a 6-1 advantage in shots between BGSU's go-ahead score and WVU's tying goal.
 
In the 70th minute, a great pass up to a sprinting Larmond ended in the box as the keeper laid out to make a stop and prevent Larmond from getting a shot off. Five minutes later, junior midfielder Logan Lucas put a head on a ball in from a Piatczyc corner, but his chance was just wide.
 
Muriel Albino tied the match, again, in the 85th minute, and Piatczyc put in the game winner three minutes later to secure the conference title.
 
Prior to the match, WVU recognized its senior class, who played their final regular-season contest at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
 
West Virginia concludes the regular season at Northern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 3. Kickoff in DeKalb is set for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUMensSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.