On Tuesday night, the No. 23 West Virginia men’s soccer team got back in the win column with a 4-1 victory over the American Eagles.
Junior midfielder Ryan Crooks was the star of the night for the WVU, as he played a part in all four Mountaineer goals by scoring two and assisting on the other two.
The Mountaineers used a trio of goals in the first fourteen minutes of play to get on top of American early, and despite getting a first half goal, the Eagles could not recover.
In the fourth minute, WVU opened up the scoring when Aaron Denk Garcia got his first goal of the season with assists from Marcus Caldeira and Ryan Crooks.
In the ninth minute, WVU extended its lead to 2-0 when Bjarne Thiesen netted his first goal of the season, and the goal was assisted by Ryan Crooks again.
In the 14th minute, Crooks would find the back of the net himself to give the Mountaineers a commanding 3-0 lead with plenty of time left on the clock.
In the 16th minute, American got on the board when junior midfielder Evan Schweickert scored on an unassisted goal to cut the Mountaineer lead to 3-1.
The score remained 3-1 going into the break, and the Mountaineers would not let that lead slip in the second half.
In the second half, the Mountaineers kept the pressure on the Eagles by getting more shots on net, but American keeper Lorenzo Gordon made four saves in the period in order to halt a WVU blowout.
However, West Virginia was able to put a fourth shot past Gordon in the 77th minute when Ryan Crooks scored his second goal of the contest on a rebound in front of the net.
This late goal gave WVU a 4-1 lead and helped seal the Mountaineers’ second win of the young season. The Mountaineers move to 2-2-0 on the season, while American drops to 2-1-1.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Friday against Yale and will be looking to put together two straight wins for the first time this season. The match will start at 7 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Stadium.
Photo by WVU Men’s Soccer
