WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's soccer team closed out its home schedule here Sunday afternoon with a hard-fought 1-0 loss to West Virginia Wesleyan in Mountain East Conference action on Senior Day at the West Family Athletic Complex.
This was the final home appearance for the WLU trio of
Timothe TranVan,
Nick Nestor and
Sebastian Jaramillo, who were recognized in a brief ceremony prior to the match.
Another strong late-season defensive effort by Coach
Sean Regan's youthful Hilltoppers (3-12-1, 3-10-1) went unrewarded as the visiting Bobcats (10-5-1, 9-4-1) broke up the defensive struggle with a second-half goal and held on for the win.
The victory clinched an MEC playoff berth for the visitors, who had been forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Black and Gold during a late September meeting in Buckhannon.
Making Sunday's effort even more impressive for the hosts was the fact that they were forced to play a man down most of the way after losing a player to a red card in the 23rd minute. The referee wound up with a pretty full book by the end of the match as he also issued six yellow card cautions - four being assessed against Wesleyan.
The only goal of the match came in the 59th minute when the Bobcats' Victor Medellin won possession inside the 6 and threaded a low shot through heavy traffic into the net.
Wesleyan outshot West Liberty by a 17-7 margin but WLU keeper
Noah Underwood came through with 8 saves to keep the hosts in contention throughout. Bobcat keeper Jeremy Collins was credited with one save to earn the shutout.
The Hilltoppers hit the road on Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m. match at Davis & Elkins.
MEN'S SOCCER
W.Va. Wesleyan 1, West Liberty 0
W.Va. Wesleyan 0 1 – 1
West Liberty 0 0 – 0
Second Half
WVW: Victor Medellin (unassisted), 58:48
Match Statistics
Shots: W.Va. Wesleyan 17, West Liberty 7
Saves: W.Va. Wesleyan 1 (Jeremy Collins 1), West Liberty 8 (
Noah Underwood 8)
Corners: W.Va. Wesleyan 3, West Liberty 2
A: 174
