No. 13 WVU men’s soccer beats Coastal Carolina, takes 4-game win streak into regular season finale
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MORGANTOWN -- Coastal Carolina showed a little life in the second half against No. 13 West Virginia men's soccer, with a chance to tie the game Thursday night. The Mountaineers had a 1-0 lead late, and after multiple chances, WVU's attack broke through, and sophomore Sammie Walker scored off a fortunate bounce.
Walker's goal in the 77th minute gave the Mountaineers a more comfortable lead and helped the Mountaineers beat Coastal Carolina, 2-0, to win their fourth straight game and last game of the regular season at Dick Dlesk Stadium.
WVU needed the crucial three points that came with the win, and moved to 9-2-4 and 5-1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Mountaineers were in a three-way tie with Marshall and James Madison at 14 points, coming into Thursday night, and now have 17, taking first place for the time being. The Thundering Herd and the Dukes play Friday night to retie for first place.
"It was definitely a tough performance," Walker said. "Our last few games at home have been tough. We went away and had an even tougher opponent there. It's really important for us to show ourselves that we have the strength and the toughness to get through any adversity."
Walker has grown into one of WVU's better forwards late in the season. Walker recently had a goal in the last game against Georgia Southern, and has five goals on the year. He's second on the team behind Pablo Pozos, who has six.
"I got across my man, and got a little foot on it," Walker said on his goal. "Everything was lucky after that. But it's important to get in front of your first man, and get a touch on the ball."
Walker's goal was the product of finally finishing on the multitude of chances for the Mountaineers. They had the ball a majority of times in Coastal Carolina's half, but couldn't put the ball past the keeper or shot wide. WVU had 21 shots on the night and had 10 corners. Pozos led the team with five shots.
Head coach Dan Stratford said the first half, even though he would’ve liked more goals, the team had great ball movement. The Mountaineers had 15 shots in the first half.
"This will be a game I watch back, and there'll be comfort and joy to watching how well we moved it in the first half," Stratford said.
WVU broke through in the first half on one of the crosses from outside the area. Kanta Ishii put it on a platter for Julen Recalde, who beat his man and fired it in the 26th minute. Recalde scored his third goal for the gold and blue after transferring over from West Virginia Tech in the offseason.
Coastal Carolina hung around. In the first half, the Chanticleers were rarely in the Mountaineers’ half. Right out of the break and down a goal, Coastal Carolina turned it on. Multiple times, the game could've been tied 1-1.
WVU goalkeeper Toby Mawer kept the clean sheet and had two saves. This was Mawer's fourth clean sheet in a row. Coastal Carolina had five shots and three corners.
"Toby is looking really strong," Walker said. "All five of them look really strong right now at the back. Plus, our sixes are doing a really good job covering ground. It's a team effort, but they're definitely standing out in our last few performances."
The Mountaineers have won four straight games after an upset loss to Old Dominion. WVU is getting hot at the right time and takes the win streak into the final game of the regular season on the road to James Madison. Depending on what happens Friday night with Marshall and the Dukes, it could be for the top seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
"Not to say our tournament started five games ago, but we've been on a stretch right now where we tried to create the narrative, which is okay," Stratford said. “We lost to ODU; there are five conference games left... We win five games; we have an unbelievable opportunity to win the league."