West Liberty, W.Va. – The West Liberty University men's soccer team will play the first of two matches on the road to end the regular season when they travel to West Virginia Wesleyan on Sunday afternoon. The Hilltoppers look for the season sweep when they kickoff with the Bobcats at 4 p.m. at Culpepper Stadium.

GAME DETAILS

• Location: Buckhannon, W.Va. (Culpepper Stadium)
• Kickoff: 4 P.M.

WEST LIBERTY STORYLINES

• West Liberty enters Sunday's match with a record of 5-6-4 (4-6-2 MEC) on the season and is currently sixth in the Mountain East Conference standings with 14 points through 12 matches.
• The Hilltoppers look to return to the win column having posted a record of 0-4-2 in their last six matches after a 4-0 loss to No. 3 Charleston in their final regular season home contest. WLU's last win occurred on October 1 in a 2-1 home win over West Virginia Wesleyan.
• Mark Donnelly leads West Liberty with four goals on the year while Vitor Otsuka has found the back of the net three times this season. Jan Goebel, Zachary Forehand, and Oskar Voges have each added a pair of goals.
• Otsuka is one of six players on the team with an assist and has notched a team-high of six, which is tied for second most in the MEC. Goebel, Rhys Lewis, Tim Stickland, Shimon Ichimiya, and Jasper Newton each have one.
• Otsuka (3 goals, 6 assists) leads the team with 12 points while Donnelly (4 goals) is second on the team with eight points.
• In goal, Noah Underwood has played 1,260 minutes thus far this season. He has made 61 saves for a .792 save percentage on 175 shots faced, while posting a 1.14 goals-against average. He has notched four shutouts this season, matching the WLU single-season record. Underwood ranks third in the MEC in total saves.
• Through 15 matches, West Liberty holds the advantage in goals (19-17), corner kicks (89-74), and saves (64-53) while their opponents hold the edge in assists (12-11), shots (183-170), and shots-on-goal (86-74).
• Sean Regan is in his fifth season as the head coach at West Liberty with a record of 21-47-9 with the Hilltoppers. Overall, he is in his 15th season as a head coach in collegiate men's soccer after spending ten previous seasons at nearby Bethany, he holds a career record of 82-165-21 during his time with the Bison and Hilltoppers.

WEST VIRGINIA WESLEYAN STORYLINES

• West Virginia Wesleyan enters Sunday's match with a record of 8-6-2 (5-5-2 MEC) on the season and is currently tied for fourth place in the Mountain East Conference standings with 17 points through 12 matches.
• Wesleyan has remained ranked inside the United Soccer Coaches Atlantic Region Top-10 rankings for seven consecutive weeks and have been at No. 9 for two straight weeks.
• After suffering their second consecutive loss on the road to the hands of Notre Dame (2-1), the Bobcats return to Buckhannon where they have a 5-1-1 record on the season.
• Sinasi Emre Deniz is the leading goal scorer in the MEC with ten on the year, and teammate Max Evans is tied for fifth in the league with eight goals of his own. Evans and Erik Rostoen are tied for sixth in the conference with two game-winning goals.
• The trio of Deniz, Casey Bunker, and Dillon Rajkovic are tied with a team-best three assists this season.
• Deniz also leads the conference with 23 points (10 goals, 3 assists) while Evans is tied for fourth with 18 points (8 goals, 2 assists).
• Logan Nelson has started and played the last six contests for West Virginia Wesleyan, bringing his season total to seven starts and eight appearances. He has played 675 minutes in goal while making 26 saves with a .743 save percentage on 87 shots faced. He holds a 1.20 goals-against average while recording three shutouts.
• Through 16 matches West Virginia Wesleyan has held an advantage in goals (34-20), assists (21-13), shots-on-goal (82-79), and saves (59-45) while their opponents hold the edge in shots (191-176) and corner kicks (84-75).
• Josh Spencer is in his second season as the head coach at West Virginia Wesleyan with a career record of 15-14-6 during his time with the Bobcats.

SERIES HISTORY

• West Virginia Wesleyan holds the 4-2-2 series lead.
• The Hilltoppers won the first meeting of the 2023 season, defeating the Bobcats 2-1 on October 1 at the West Family Athletic Complex.