KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan men's soccer team suffered a 2-1 Mid-American Conference loss to West Virginia in the regular season finale Saturday. The Broncos will await the results of the other games Saturday night to find out their 2014 MAC Tournament, Nov. 14 & 16.
All three goals in the game were scored in the second half. WVU got on the board first with a shot to the left of WMU keeper
Chase Rau by Jamie Merriam in the 47th minute. The Broncos found an equalizer in the 69th minute as sophomore
Hunter Vandenboom registered his third goal of the season.
Edu Jimenez served a free kick from 35 yards out and
Nick Wysong tipped in it the box. Vandenboom rushed in and buried the finish.
West Virginia freshman Jad Arslan lifted his side to victory with the game-winner with five minutes left in the game. Mike Desiderio fired a long shot that rang off the crossbar and bounced into open space. Arslan was alone in the air and Rau was in not in a position to make a save after defending the shots moments earlier.
The loss drops Western Michigan to 8-6-4 on the season (2-2-1 MAC) and eliminated WMU from the regular season title race, as well as a chance to be the No. 1 seed anc host for the upcoming MAC Tournament.
“I want to start off by thanking the five seniors (
Adriano Deabreu,
Kyle Farris,
Jason Grant,
Florian Scheck and
Mario Teixeira) for everything they have given our program. I just wish we could had sent them off with a win,” said WMU head coach
Chad Wiseman.
“Today's game really came down to a few moments. They made two great plays on their goals, we only made one. Again I thought we generated enough chances to win the game, we just lacked quality in the final third. Credit West Virginia, the are a good side and took their chances well today.”
Western Michigan took nine shots and had seven corner kicks. Early in the first half,
Nick Wysong threatened with two head balls that just missed, the first off the crossbar and the second just over the top. The Broncos later forced WMU keeper Lee Johnston to make two saves in the second half. Farris nearly caught Johnston off guard, volleying a rocket back on target from 30 yards out late in the second half.
“We know we can play with any team in the MAC, we will have to refocus, do a little scoreboard watching and hopefully seven points is enough to make the tournament,” Wiseman said.
