WVU Men’s Soccer Advances to First-Ever Final Four

WVU Men’s Soccer advanced to the first College Cup in the 63 year history of their program on Saturday, defeating the Loyola Marymount Lions 3-1 in Morgantown to punch their ticket to the National Semifinals.

The Lions seized the initiative early, utilizing an aggressive press to take a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the match off the foot of Steven Jackson. 

West Virginia forced the Lions back on their heels from there, though, tying the match six minutes later. Junior midfielder Otto Ollikainen threaded a pass through the Lions’ defense to Luke McCormick lurking just outside the penalty box. Lions’ goalie Massimo Oedekoven Pomponi charged forward to challenge him, but McCormick laced a kick past him for the equalizer.

The Mountaineers began to pour it on from there. Goalkeeper Jackson Lee launched a kick upfield to Sergio Navarro, who beat a pair of Lions defenders to make it 2-1 just 16 minutes in. 

Both teams began to press early in the second half, fighting to score the decisive next goal. Pomponi stopped a point-blank shot by Marcus Caldeira 55 minutes in, keeping the game within reach for the Lions. He couldn’t stop the Mountaineers’ next shot, however. Ryan Crooks’ pass from the right side made it through a crowd of jerseys in front of the Loyola goal, finding the foot of Yutaro Tsukada on the other side. Tsukada kicked into the wide open net, putting the Mountaineers up 3-1 with 24 minutes left to play. 

West Virginia cruised to victory from there, allowing just one shot on net the rest of the way.

WVU Men’s Soccer advances to face the winner of tonight’s game between Stanford and Clemson in the Final Four. That game will take place in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday, December 8.