WVU Edged by UNCW

Sunday, August 26

Charleston, S.C.

2:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

1-1-0

UNC Wilmington

2-0-0

WVU

UNCW

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

August 26, 2018 05:26 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

By: Charlie Healy

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The West Virginia University men's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season with a 1-0 defeat to UNC Wilmington on Sunday afternoon at the Aaron Oltsky Memorial Soccer Classic in Charleston, South Carolina.

In a matchup of 1-0 teams, the Mountaineers (1-1) outshot the Seahawks (2-0) 18-13, but a goal by UNCW in the eighth minute proved to be the difference.

"Interestingly enough, I thought we played better today than we did on Friday night," WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "We had a number of really good chances to score and didn't. UNCW is a well-coached team and a good team. We made a major mistake to allow their goal on a miscommunication between our back and our goalkeeper, and their guy finds an open net to pass it into. But, we had some fantastic chances ourselves, including missing the open side of the goal. From that standpoint, it's disappointing, and I'm not sure we necessarily deserved to lose, but we take our hats off to Wilmington for finding the goal and defending very well. They're a very good team and will win a lot of games, but from our standpoint, we want more from our group heading forward."

Both teams had seven shots on goal, while WVU had six corner kicks to UNCW's four. Sophomore goalkeeper Steven Tekesky made a career-best six saves, while Wilmington's Ryan Cretens stopped all seven shots he faced.

Junior Andres Muriel Albino led the team with five shots and two shots on goal. Junior Albert Andres-Llop and sophomore Tsubasa Takada each had three shots.

The match was delayed approximately 40 minutes due to thunderstorms in the area prior to kickoff.

Tekesky made a pair of saves in the opening six minutes before UNCW took a 1-0 lead at 7:21. The goal came from Emil Elveroth on a ball in through the middle, where he knocked it in past Tekesky.

In the ninth minute, Takada sent a shot wide right, while senior midfielder Joey Piatczyc had a shot blocked a minute later. Following another save by Tekesky, Takada had a shot blocked in the 16th minute.

The Seahawks followed with two shots, one high and another blocked.

The Mountaineers had several good chances in the 24th minute, first by Takada, who's shot was high. Two minutes later, Albino had a shot saved. He got his own rebound, and sent the ball high at 25:19. Andres-Llop had a shot saved at 31:30, while junior Pascal Derwaritsch had a long shot that went wide right in the 35th minute.

Tekesky made his career-high fourth save of the match on a header in the 38th minute to keep it a 1-0 contest, and WVU closed the half with a shot high by Muriel Albino in the 43rd minute.

West Virginia held an 11-8 edge in shots in the opening 45 minutes, while Wilmington had a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal and nine fouls to the Mountaineers' four. Both teams took two corner kicks.

Both teams had chances in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. Tekesky made a pair of saves, while Muriel Albino had a shot go high in the 47th minute and Andres-Llop had one blocked in the 55th.

Junior Logan Lucas had an opportunity in the 64th minute, but his header was saved. The Seahawks answered with consecutive shots in the 69th minute, but the Mountaineer defense prevented the chances from going on goal. The first shot was blocked, while the second, on the rebound, went high.

Muriel Albino had a good opportunity in the 75th minute, but the long shot in was saved.

WVU's best chance of the match came in the 77th minute. The play began with a corner kick by Piatczyc, who sent the ball into the box for sophomore Brendan Hogan, but his shot was saved. On the rebound from inside the six, sophomore Kevin Morris' shot also was stopped by the UNCW keeper from his knees.

The Mountaineers continued to apply pressure in the final minutes, but could not get a shot off. In the last minute, a header by Morris off a free kick in by Piatczyc was high. A foul called against WVU also halted an opportunity.

The Mountaineers return home to face American on Friday, Aug. 31, at 7 p.m., at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. Tickets are available at WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800 WVU GAME.

WVU soccer scarf ticket packages and single match tickets are on sale now at WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800 WVU GAME. The scarf ticket package includes a scarf and 10 tickets to be used at any men's or women's soccer match during the 2018 regular season. Packages are just $30 and are available while supplies last. Single match tickets are $5 each, while tickets are $3 for groups of 10 or more. At the Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium ticket window, tickets will be $7 for adults, $5 for youth and seniors and $3 for groups. The discounted online pricing will be available until kickoff on game day. Tickets for WVU students are free with a valid student I.D.

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