HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — WVU Tech concluded their 2017 season in overtime Saturday evening as they fell to No. 2 seed William Carey 3-2 in an opening round game of the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship. The Golden Bears finish their campaign 8-10-4 while the Crusaders will move on to the second round with a record of 18-1.
Sophomore
Eduardo Gutierrez, off the assistance of fellow classmate
Sergio Sanchez, fired a shot that made its way past the Crusaders' keeper Grant Adam and gave the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead in minute 39. Tech held onto that lead until William Carey found their equalizer off a goal made by Michael Conejero.
The Gold and Blue's final score came from senior
Francisco Neto who received the perfect pass from junior
Matias Pazos. The Crusaders answered back to force bonus soccer in Hattiesburg when Conejero found the back of the net again and knotted the score 2-2.
With the golden goal rule in play, the teams headed to overtime where William Carey's Paul Bracken posted the winning goal in the 94
th minute off the assistance from teammate Joaquin Ruiz Cabello.
Tech finished with three shots on frame compared to the Crusaders' 12. William Carey also held the advantage in corner kicks, 14-3.
Freshman Jose Doming Xam-mar finished his inaugural season 6-4-2 and with 44 saves protecting the goal. In Saturday's loss, Domingo made nine stops in 94 minutes of play.
The team finished with two top-25 finishes in the nation (NAIA) as of November 18 including No. 21 in shots on goal per game (9) and No. 25 in total shutouts (8).
