The No. 5 seeded West Virginia men’s soccer team defeated Loyola Marymount 3-1 in the NCAA quarterfinals to advance to their first College Cup in program history.
Loyola started the game off strong after Jovan Prado assisted Steven Anderson just two minutes into the game to give the Lions an early 1-0 lead.
The Mountaineers began to respond with their own offense after Marcus Caldeira took a shot in the sixth minute that just missed and went into the side netting. Two minutes later Otto Ollikainen found Luke McCormick who put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 in the eighth minute.
In the 13th minute, Loyola Marymount’s Aiden Spagnoli picked up a yellow card for a hard foul which would prove to be the first of 27 fouls throughout the course of the game.
In the 15th minute, Jackson Lee and Carlos Hernando combined to assist Sergio Ors Navarro who put the Mountaineers up 2-1.
The Lions came close to an equalizer in the 19th minute after a ball was crossed through the middle of the box for Jovan Prado but Jackson Lee was there to make the save for West Virginia.
In the 21st minute Ors Navarro came close to netting a second goal after a shot from his left foot was pushed out for a corner kick by Loyola Marymount’s Oedekoven Pomponi.
Both teams would trade possession for the first half before the end of the first 45 where West Virginia would head to the locker room up 2-1.
In the second half the Lions came out strong, getting a shot off in just three minutes but the ball would go over the top of the goal.
In the 55th minute Marcus Caldeira would find himself one on one with the goalie but was unable to get the ball past Pomponi who made the save.
In the 60th minute Loyola Marymount’s Tyler Trusner got a shot on goal however Jackson Lee was there to make the stop. The lions got another shot on target in the 62nd minute from Tyger Smalls but Jackson Lee was there to make the save again.
Four minutes later Ryan Crooks found Yutaro Tsukada who put the Mountaineers up 3-1 in the 66th minute.
In the 75th minute Trusner got another shot on goal for the Lions but it hit off the crossbar before going out of bounds.
After 90 minutes the full time whistle blew and West Virginia had secured their spot in the College Cup for the first time in program history.
The Mountaineers will face the winner of Stanford and Clemson on Dec. 6 in Louisville.
