WHEELING, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's soccer team wrapped up its first season of NCAA Division II competition Saturday night with a strong performance in a 2-1 loss at Wheeling Jesuit.
The host Cardinals (10-5-2, 9-5-0), who cracked the NCAA Division II Top 25 rankings earlier this month, needed a penalty kick with less than 10 minutes remaining to foil the upset effort of Coach
Thomas Olivier's Hilltoppers (4-10-1, 4-9-1).
West Liberty carried the play to WJU for much of the first half and held a 1-0 lead at intermission thanks to a heavy strike by freshman midfielder
Jack Osborne that whistled into the twine from just outside the box in the 40th minute.
The Hilltoppers pressed that advantage through the early stages of the second half and caught another break in the 61st minute when the Cardinals' Dominique Pierce was sent off with a red card, leaving WJU a man down for the final 30 minutes.
That seemed to light a fire under the Cardinals, however, and they equalized in the 67th minute with a Pedro Crespo goal from 15 yards out.
The game-winner came in the 82nd minute when the referee awarded the hosts a penalty kick. Martin Minuzzi ripped a low drive into the right hand corner of the net and the Hilltoppers were unable to answer before the final horn.
Wheeling Jesuit outshot West Liberty by a 14-10 margin with a 6-4 edge in shots on goal.
Florian Dupuis had 4 saves in net for WLU while Cardinal netminder Josh Zimmerman stopped 3 Hilltopper shots. The Black and Gold forced 7 corners to 4 for WJU.
MEN'S SOCCER
Wheeling Jesuit 2, West Liberty 1
West Liberty 1 0 – 1
Wheeling Jesuit 0 2 – 2
First Half
WLU:
Jack Osborne (unassisted), 39:36
Second Half
WJU: Pedro Crespo (Teavon Spencer, Lucas Fievet), 66:22
WJU: Martin Minuzzi (Penalty Kick), 81:11
Match Statistics
Shots: West Liberty 10, Wheeling Jesuit 14
Shots on Goal: West Liberty 4, Wheeling Jesuit 6
Saves: West Liberty 4 (
Florian Dupuis 4), Wheeling Jesuit 3 (Josh Zimmerman 3)
Corners: West Liberty 7, Wheeling Jesuit 4
A: 187
