No. 3 West Virginia proved the worth of its versatile offense once again with its second four-goal game in just two outings.
Unlike Thursday’s match against Purdue Fort Wayne, though, senior goalkeeper Marc Bonnaire allowed no goals from the Red Flash. Bonnaire’s responsibilities were minimal in the game, as Saint Francis recorded just one shot, including zero shots on goal.
West Virginia kept the pressure on the Red Flash’s goal throughout, and Saint Francis resulted to a rushed, aggressive defense in efforts of responding. The Red Flash recorded seven fouls in the first half compared to WVU’s one, finishing with 18 total compared to five from the Mountaineers.
Offensively, the Mountaineers can credit Georgia State transfer Simon Carlson and graduate student Ors Navarro for the explosive victory.
The Mountaineers gained an early lead with Carlson’s first goal in the seventh minute, assisted by senior defender Dante Huckaby. The goal was Carlson’s first as a Mountaineer after he made his mark with two assists against Purdue Fort Wayne.
Not to be outdone, West Virginia’s Student-Athlete of the Week, Sergio Ors Navarro, brought his season goal total up to four with an open-goal score just seven minutes later.
The pair earned the only two goals of the first half, and after a dominant offensive performance in the first 45 minutes, the second period was much of the same, both in terms of pressure and scoring.
Carlson and Ors Navarro each scored once again in the second half, with Carlson scoring in the 74th minute off a free kick, and Ors Navarro once again following just seven minutes later, this time with an assist from Carlson and senior defender Frederik Jorgensen.
With just two games under his belt, Carlson is proving to be a valuable transfer for the Mountaineers. The graduate student midfielder was named to the All-Sun Belt First Team in both of the last two years at Georgia State, and that experience has carried over flawlessly at West Virginia.
“The way (Dan Stratford) has the team playing- that I thought really fit me well,” Carlson said postgame. “Being able to play with some of the guys over the summer like Sergio and (Ryan) Baer and Dante (Huckaby) really helped just to be able to mesh into the team quickly and easily.”
Though Ors Navarro and Carlson filled the scoring category for West Virginia, they were not the only players drawing attention in the game. MLS first round pick and WVU junior Marcus Caldeira made his season debut on Monday after sitting out with a foot injury in game one.
Caldeira played 37 minutes, in which he recorded two shots including one shot on goal. The forward remains limited early in the season, but he moved fluidly down the field and matched the energy of his teammates throughout.
“He can make a difference,” head coach Dan Stratford said. “You saw it straight to where his physicality, the way he can move the opponent and then his pace and strength, it’s so dangerous, and we’ll be excited to get more and more of that better as the season progresses.”
With successful outings from Ors Navarro and Carlson, though, Stratford is in no rush to bring Caldeira back unless he is healthy.
“It’s still a progression for him,” Stratford said. “He’s three-and-a-half sessions into his preseason and hasn’t done anything for nearly four weeks, so we have to manage that a little bit and manage him.”
“I’m sure he wanted to stay out there. He looked pretty disappointed to come off, but all of it is just us protecting him and making sure that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
The undefeated Mountaineers will continue their season at home again on Friday against George Washington. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
Photo by Tanner Mountz, Blue Gold Sports
