The No. 6 ranked West Virginia men’s soccer team will open its season at home against Robert Morris on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Coming off a historic season that saw the Mountaineers reach the Elite Eight, Dan Stratford’s talented club will return nine of its 11 starters from last season.
Coming into Dick Dlesk Stadium to challenge the sixth rated Mountaineers will be the Colonials of Robert Morris.
Robert Morris, a member of the Horizon League, finished 5-11-1 during the 2021 season. The Colonials return 18 members from last year’s team, featuring forward Bryan Akongo and defender Kelvin Ramirez, who each started in all 16 games last year.
“I think the weight of expectation is for us (West Virginia) to win the game, and they (Robert Morris) will come here feeling they’ll have nothing to lose, simply based on where both programs finished last year,” WVU head coach Dan Stradford said on the contest.
Stradford also went in depth on how Robert Morris has changed since the last time the two teams met in 2021, when the Mountaineers won 2-0.
“I know they’ve (Robert Morris) been busy from a recruiting process,” Stradford said on Wednesday. “I know they’ve brought in nine new players, and I know they brought in a couple of talented internationals that were on our radar. I think it’s a different system that they’ll play compared to last year, so we’ll have to adjust in that regard.”
The expectations are clearly high this year for the Mountaineers, as they return the majority of their talent, despite losing star goalie and two-time All-MAC First Team goalie Steven Tekesky.
WVU returns three of its four leading goal scorers from the previous season, including Ciro Bourlot Jaeggi, who led the team with six goals. Along with Bourlot Jaeggi, WVU will also rely on Luke McCormick and Fredrick Jorgensen, who each netted three goals last season.
Leading up to the official season opener, the Mountaineers played three friendly exhibition games, in which they traveled to both Duquesne and Wake Forest and hosted the Virginia Tech Hokies.
“I think we’ve had a really well-rounded preseason with the experiences of the three games,” Stradford said. “There can be no excuses going into tomorrow night.”
