BECKLEY, West Virginia -- For the first time in WVU Tech men's soccer program history, the Golden Bears advance to the second round of the NAIA National Championship after a 2-1 victory over Olivet Nazarene University Saturday afternoon. The contest was hosted by Tech at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex in Beckley, West Virginia.
The Golden Bears, who are the No. 8 seed, move to 17-2-2 this season while the Tigers 14-game winning streak was snapped and they finish their season with a record of 16-4-2.
With both goals from Tech coming off the bench, the first occurred when freshman
Sergio Sanchez sent the perfect pass to fellow classmate
Carlos Tormo in the 35
th minute. The Tigers answered back in the second half when Marcus Wollak sent a ball to the back of the net in minute 51 for the equalizer.
Junior
Francisco Neto scored the winning goal with ten minutes left of play off a free kick that found its way past ONU goalkeeper Chris Taborn. Olivet Nazarene managed one more shot on goal for an effort to knot the game but Tech's goalkeeper
Hunter Moles made the save with 4:26 left to play.
In goal, Moles (17-2-2) finished with three saves in 90 minutes of play while ONU's Taborn had six saves.
As a team, the Golden Bears held the advantage in shots and shots on goal, 20 (8), compared to their opponent's 5 (4). The Tigers had nine opportunities from the corner while Tech had four.
Continuing championship play, the Gold and Blue will travel to Delray Beach, Florida to face No. 9 and last season's NAIA National Championship runners-up MidAmerica Nazarene (16-3-1) on Monday, November 28. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m.
