WHEELING, W.Va. (Oct. 27) - Senior Martin Minuzzi (Cordoba, Argentina/Nazareth) converted a penalty kick to complete Wheeling Jesuit's 2-1 comeback versus West Liberty in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) clash on Senior Night Saturday.

The Cardinals close out the regular season at 10-5-2 overall and 9-5 in the MEC with the victory. WJU moved into third place in the MEC standings after picking up three points from the win. The Cardinals will await the result of the Urbana and Notre Dame (Ohio) contest to determine their seeding in the postseason. A loss or draw will clinch the No. 3 seed for Wheeling Jesuit, while an Urbana win will send the Cardinals to the No. 4 seed. Meanwhile, the Hilltoppers close out their first season as a varsity program at 4-10-1 overall and 4-9-1 in conference play.

West Liberty took a 1-0 lead into halftime. The second half started slow, but picked up when a straight red card was issued to Wheeling Jesuit in the 61st-minute. Playing with a man down, the Cardinals rallied back and brought the game level with a goal just minutes after the red card was shown. Freshman Pedro Crespo (Madrid, Spain/Colegio Santa Maria) scored for the first-time since a September 8 match at Urbana with a low screamer from 15-yards out that beat the opposing keeper on his left side. Lucas Fievet (Pittsburgh, Pa.) provided the long ball that was then flicked on by Teavon Spencer (Orlando, Fla./Evans) to find Crespo's shooting boot.

The penultimate moment of the match came in the 82nd-minute when the referee awarded a penalty-kick to Wheeling Jesuit. Senior captain Martin Minuzzi was entrusted with taking the penalty kick and once again came through in a clutch situation. He drilled the ball into the top corner, leaving no chance for the keeper to make a save, to score his 11th goal of the season (tied for the lead in goals scored in the MEC) and fifth game-winning goal (leading total in the MEC).

WJU was able to fend off West Liberty for the remainder of the match and complete a 2-1 comeback that started with having a player sent off.

The first half was played conservatively by both sides, with each team taking their fair share of chances but not risking much on the attack. In the 40th-minute, West Liberty's Jack Osborne took a shot from 20-yards out that caught goalkeeper Josh Zimmerman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Franklin Regional) off guard and found the back of the net. Zimmerman came up with three saves to keep West Liberty's goal total at one.

The Wheeling Jesuit men's soccer team will be awaiting tomorrow's results from the final day of the MEC regular season to determine their seeding in the MEC Tournament. The opening round of the MEC Tournament will be played on Wednesday, October 31, with Charleston and Notre Dame (Ohio) firmly entrenched with the top-two seeds.