Wheeling, W. Va. - After spending a lot of time on the road this month, the Wheeling University Men's Soccer team (4-8-1, 3-7-1) gets a taste of home play as they get set to host Concord on Wednesday afternoon at 4 PM. They play two of their final four games of the season at home, and are hoping to end things on a strong note here in the fall of 2021.
Last time out, they battled for 110 minutes and couldn't find a winner as they tied with West Virginia Wesleyan 1-1. It was a pretty balanced offensive attack by both sides throughout the game, but after a first half goal by both teams, no one else was able to get on the board. Wheeling's goal came in the 25th minute of the game, while the Bobcats followed up with their goal ten minutes later. Neither team would get on the board for the final 75 minutes of play, resulting in the tie.
Leading the offensive attack on the day was freshman Armando Loynaz, who has stepped up as a big part of the offense the last few weeks. Loynaz scored his team's only goal of the day in the 25th minute, and led the offense with four shots, three on goal for the day. Fellow freshman Daniel Skarpnes added four shots of his own, putting two on goal, while Harry Martin was a perfect 3-3 on his shots throughout the afternoon.
On the defensive side of things, senior goalkeeper Tyler Serman played a strong game, making five saves on six shots faced. After allowing that only goal in the 35th minute, Serman was able to keep the Bobcats off the board for the final 75 minutes of the game. He made three of his five saves in the second half of the game or overtime to keep West Virginia Wesleyan off the board. It was Wheeling's first tie since the 2018 regular season, and they look to get back into the win column as they get set to take Bishop Schmitt Field for the second to last time in Fall 2021.
With the tie, Wheeling moves to 3-7-1 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play, and sits in eighth overall in the conference. Just two games separate them from fifth place in the conference as they try to climb the conference standings. With the top four teams set to make the playoffs, Wheeling will be looking to play almost perfect soccer to get their names back in the race.
The Match-up
The rivalry between Wheeling and Concord Men's Soccer dates back to the 2002 season, spanning 21 contests. Wheeling has gone 15-4-2 in those games, and has won four of the last six games against the Mountain Lions. At Bishop Schmitt Field, the Cardinals have an 8-3-1 record against Concord and look to add onto that in this one. The last time these two teams faced off was earlier this season in an overtime game that Wheeling won 2-1.
Salem Mwela and Pacey Griffith each scored their first collegiate goals in that game, as Wheeling was able to pull off the win in the 94th minute. Griffith scored the first goal to tie the game 1-1 in the 42nd minute, just one minute after Concord scored their goal. Mwela came through with the golden goal in the 94th minute of the game, that gave Wheeling their third conference win of the season.
The Details
Kick-off for Wednesday afternoon's game is scheduled for 4 PM at Bishop Schmitt Field. You can watch the game by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
