MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (August 29, 2008) - The West Virginia University
men’s soccer team fell in its first game of the season and of the
West Virginia University Classic, 1-0, to Lafayette on Friday night at
Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,248.
The Mountaineers (0-1-0) battled a physical Leopards squad and despite
numerous opportunities to take the lead, could not solve Lafayette’s
Andrew Pianko who made five saves in the match.
On a corner kick in the second half at 47:20, freshman Declan Coll
served a corner kick from the far side, finding junior Mo Travis near
the 18-yard box; Travis’ shot on-goal barely missed which would have
given the Mountaineers the lead.
Toward the end of the second session at the 81:22 mark, the scoreless
tie was broken up as Lafayette’s Stephen Macurdy took the ball from
just inside the half-circle in front of the 18-yard box, spun around and
laced a shot just past the Mountaineers’ goalkeeper Zach Johnson.
“It’s disappointing the way we lost because we talked about not
beating ourselves and we gave up a soft goal,” Head Coach Marlon
LeBlanc said. “For all the chances, we didn’t put the ball in the
net. At the end of the day, we just missed too many chances.”
The Mountaineers received a spark off the bench when freshman Kurt
Freemyer entered the game at 71:53. Within a three-minute time span, WVU
rattled off two-shots on goal and took two corner kicks.
WVU blasted 16 shots in the second half, five of which were on-goal.
Freshman Ruben Garrido led the charge in the second half with two shots
on-net.
The Classic will resume on Sunday, Aug. 31, with the Mountaineers
facing Duquesne, who defeated Binghamton, 2-1, in the first game of the
day. The match, which will be the second game of the day, is scheduled
for a 2 p.m. kickoff and will be televised on WVPBS.
