MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University men's soccer team earned a 3-0 win over Penn in front of 1,534 fans at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Saturday night.
 
The Mountaineers received a pair of goals by freshman forward Rodrigo Robles Grajera, while senior midfielder Andres Muriel Albino chipped in with another goal in the shutout victory. West Virginia took the lead in the ninth minute and never looked back, as it improved to 6-2-1 on the season.
 
"(Penn) is a good team, and they were hard to break down, but I thought we did break them down," WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. "There was more for us in the final third that I think we can still be better on in terms of the final ball and the final cross, but, for us, to breakthrough three times is good and hopefully it's something we can continue to build on."
 
West Virginia wasted no time taking control of the contest. After senior defender Ryan Kellogg sent a ball into the box, sophomore forward Tony Pineda headed the ball in the air, which was back-heeled into the goal by Robles Grajera less than 10 minutes into the match.
 
WVU kept the offensive pressure on in the 33rd minute when junior midfielder Pau Jimenez Albelda tested the Penn keeper with a low shot toward the far post. The Mountaineers finished with five shots in the first half as they controlled much of the opening 45 minutes.
 
Senior defender Albert Andres-Llop opened the second half with a hard shot on frame from the corner of the box in the 51st minute, but the chance was saved by the Quakers (3-3-1). Three minutes later, the Mountaineers' back line got to work, fending off three consecutive Penn corner kicks to help keep the shutout intact.
 
Junior goalkeeper Steven Tekesky, who finished with four saves on the night, gobbled up the Quakers' best chance of the evening in the 62nd minute on an open shot sent from the top of the box. That led to Robles Grajera's second goal, which occurred in the 68th minute.
 
After the Mountaineers earned a corner kick, the ball was flicked in the box by junior midfielder Tsubasa Takada and senior midfielder Pascal Derwaritsch, before the Burgos, Spain, native capitalized on the far post with the finish.
 
The performance was Robles Grajera's second multi-goal game of the season. He finished the night was a career-high five points.
 
But the Mountaineers weren't done there. In the 80th minute, Muriel Albino showed off his skill, bending a shot far post from 10-yards out to extend the lead to three. The tally was the Sevilla, Spain, native's team-leading sixth goal of the year and third this week. Robles Grajera and freshman midfielder Luke McCormick earned assists on the play.
 
West Virginia outshot Penn, 11-9, including 8-4 in shots on goal. The Mountaineers also recorded 10 corner kicks in the victory, while conceding just four.
 
Tekesky and the Mountaineers earned their third clean sheet of the campaign and the squad's first since Sept. 10. With the win, WVU extended its streak to 27 consecutive wins when scoring two or more goals. The Mountaineers have scored multiple goals in four of their last five matches.
 
West Virginia also improved its all-time record against Penn to 4-1.
 
Next up, the Mountaineers cap their two-match homestand on Friday, Oct. 4, against San Diego. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

Trailing by a goal at the half, the Bowling Green State University offense exploded for four second-half goals en route to a 4-1 win over Canisius College Saturday night (Sept. 28). The non-conference match was held at Cochrane Stadium.

Four different Falcons found the back of the net, and a total of eight different players had at least one point on the night. Junior Chris Sullivan led the way with a goal and an assist, while senior Chris Brennan and sophomores Ike Swiger and Matt Walters each scored as well.

More coming soon...

MACOMB, Ill. – Sophomore Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) scored in the eighth minute of overtime as the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team topped Western Illinois, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 28). Senior Jan Maertins (Rheinfelden, Germany/Marquette) opened the scoring early in the first half before Nick Markanich's golden goal tally gave NIU its fourth consecutive victory.  

"Today was a game where we had to dig deep to find a winner," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "I didn't think we played particularly well, it was a sluggish performance. We opened well, scored a nice goal, but then all credit to Western (Illinois), they took it to us for a large chuck of the game and the game became very open.

"Martin Sanchez was arguably our best player, he had to come up with a couple of really big saves and then Nick (Markanich) finding a winner late on was certainly a sense of relief."

NIU (4-4-1) opened the scoring in the 13th minute as senior Christian Molina (Katy, Texas/Mayde Creek) played the ball toward Maertins inside the box. The senior forward fired a shot into the bottom corner, past a diving Timothy Trilk in goal for Western Illinois to give the Huskies the early lead.

Sophomore Miguel Maynez Jr. (El Paso, Texas/New Mexico) nearly added a second for the Huskies just five minutes later as hit effort hit the post.

Huskie redshirt freshman goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) was called upon for the first time in the contest in the 23rd minute as he stopped a shot from Enric Ferrer.

On either side of the half-hour mark the Huskies had a chance as junior Alex Welch (Carmarthen, Wales/King's College Madrid) missed high and wide in the 29th minute and sophomore Nick Markanich (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) had an effort saved by Trilk in the 33rd minute.

Less than three minutes before halftime, Western Illinois (0-9-0) leveled the match through Ryan DeBois. Arian Mehrang played the ball into the box toward DeBois and his acrobatic effort found the bottom corner past Sanchez to even the contest, 1-1, heading into halftime.

Just past the hour mark, the Leathernecks had a pair of chances that were both off-target. Daisuke Otsuka had another look at goal for Western Illinois in the 66th minute, but again Sanchez was not troubled by the shot.

Three minutes later, redshirt freshman Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) tested Trilk with a low shot but the Leatherneck goalkeeper was able to make the stop as the match remained tied.

Sanchez came up with a save on a shot by Luke Duball for Western Illinois in the 82nd minute and sophomore Diego Sanz (Mompia, Spain/La Marina) was stopped by Trilk in the final minute of regulation as neither team could break the deadlock and the contest went into overtime.

In the early minutes of the extra period, both teams had looks at goal but neither goalkeeper was called upon to make a save.

Sanchez then made a stop on a shot by DuBois in the 98th minute and from the save the Huskies sprung on the counter with Anthony Markanich feeding Nick Markanich who finished past Trilk for his fourth goal of the season to win the match in overtime for the Huskies.

Trilk made three saves in goal for Western Illinois; Sanchez recorded five stops for NIU as the Huskies won their fourth consecutive match with the redshirt freshman goalkeeper between the posts.

NIU will be back in action on Tuesday, October 1, as the Huskies travel to Chicago to meet UIC. Kickoff against the Flames is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN3.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's soccer team were defeated in overtime by non-conference opponent Illinois Chicago at the WMU Soccer Complex, with both teams combining for a total of seven goals and 30 shots.

"I thought it was a great college soccer match with two teams being aggressive and not sitting back," said head coach Chad Wiseman. "It just stings a little being on the wrong end of the result. We had some mistakes with our goalkeeping and center back play and we got punished for it."

The Flames struck first early on in the first half, with Eduardo Garcia putting his team up 1-0 in the 14th minute.

"There first goal was very good," Wiseman remarked. "It's what they do best with quick combinations and runs off the ball."

Ten minutes later, sophomore forward Eric Conerty scored his second goal of the 2019 campaign to tie the contest at 1-1.

"Conerty had an absolute blast from distance, which is something we seem him do a lot in training," Wiseman stated.

In the 34th minute, the Broncos took their first lead of the match, thanks to a goal from freshman Max Keenan. It was the first goal of his collegiate career, with sophomore forward Mike Melaragni and Conerty earning the assists.

"Congrats to Max on his first collegiate goal," Wiseman said. "He had a great run to get in behind the defense and a very nice finish."

The Flames retook the lead at 3-2 with goals right before the end of the first half and two minutes into the second half.

"It is disappointing that we didn't show the leadership needed to finish and start a half," remarked Wiseman. "We have that leadership, but we just didn't show it today in a couple of key moments."

Freshman midfielder Charlie Sharp responded quickly for the Broncos, tying the contest at 3-3 in the 49th minute off a beautiful finish inside the box. Another freshman midfielder, Brennan Creek, picked up his fourth assist of the year on the goal.

The Broncos had an opportunity to take the lead late in the second half on a play by senior defender Paul Liagre and graduate defender Sam Biek.

"With three minutes remaining I thought we had the game winner," said Wiseman. "Paul made a great run down the right flank and delivered a fantastic ball on the head of Sam inside the six-yard box, but he headed it just wide of the open net."

The only shot attempt in the overtime period resulted in the conclusion of the game, with Eduardo Garcia scoring his second goal of the evening following a corner kick opportunity for the Flames.

"Our fight was fantastic today," concluded Wiseman. "Our schedule is set up to play top programs and sometimes the fight we show just isn't enough, which I think we have learned in these last couple overtime losses. We will regroup and prepare ourselves for a good Xavier team."

Western Michigan will now head to Cincinnati, Ohio for a non-conference match with Xavier on Tuesday night.

AKRON, Ohio - Ryan Bayne's golden goal in the 102nd minute (101:59) propelled Cornell (5-2) to a 3-2 double-overtime men's soccer triumph past the Akron (0-7) on Saturday, Sept. 28, at FirstEnergy Stadium.
 
The game-winning tally came on a header off a corner kick served into the box from Harry Fuller and represented the second goal of the season for Bayne.
 
The final shot of the match provided the Big Red with a 13-12 overall edge in shots on the evening, including an 8-3 margin in shots on goal.
 
Redshirt junior Diogo Pacheco (Lisbon, Portugal) and junior David Egbo (Enugu, Nigeria) contributed keys minutes in reserve duty for the Zips and paced Akron with four and two shots, respectively. George Pedlow led Cornell with a team-high three shots, all on frame, to spark the Big Red to the victory.
 
In his first career start for the Zips, junior goalkeeper Joe Bowles (Stratford, England) made three saves for Akron, while Ryan Shellow was credited with a pair of stops for Cornell.
 
The opening minutes of the match proved to be a defensive battle as neither side posted a shot until Pedlow's strike at the 21:39 mark was saved by Bowles.
 
Sophomore Federico Serra (Cagliari, Italy) had a quality scoring chance for the Zips in the 31st minute (30:28), one that sailed high of the net.
 
Brandon Morales gave the Big Red a 1-0 lead at the 36:43 mark as he finished a give-and-go off a pair of passes from Griffin Garrard and Connor Drought.
 
Cornell took a 1-0 advantage into the intermission as each side posted a pair of first-half shots.
 
Inserted into the line-up to start the final stanza, Egbo netted the equalizer for the Zips in the 50th minute (49:23) with a nifty backwards header inside the six-yard box off an assist from the corner by sophomore Pol Hernandez (Teia, Spain). The goal was Egbo's team-leading second of the season.
 
Pacheco nearly gave Akron a 2-1 lead at the 57:08 mark as his shot off a pass from sophomore Colin Biros (Jackson, Ohio) was pulled in for a save by Shellow.
 
Just over two minutes later in the 60th minute (59:25), Bowles made a save of his own off a strike from Emeka Eneli. He then added a stop of Pedlow's strike at the 67:15 mark to preserve the 1-1 contest.
 
Cornell assumed a 2-1 advantage in the 70th minute (69:46) off an own goal knocked in by the Akron defender.
 
Pedlow was again thwarted by a Bowles' save at the 82:08 mark.
 
Sophomore Marco Milanese (Isernia, Italy) leveled the match at two in the 85th minute (84:11) redirecting the deflection off of a shot in the box from freshman Mani Austmann (Gardabear, Iceland) for his first goal of the season. The equalizer was set-up by a corner kick by Biros, one that resulted in a blocked shot by Austmann.
 
The Zips had shots down the stretch, but were unable to convert on their chances in regulation.
 
Akron narrowly avoided a last-minute setback as Morales got a 1v1 scoring chance with Bowles before seeing his shot with 20 seconds to play hit the side of the net.
 
The Big Red posted a 3-1 margin in shots in the initial overtime period, with Akron's best scoring opportunity coming off a header by Egbo at the 97:03 mark.
 
Cornell then walked it off the pitch with a header for Bayne in the 102nd minute (101:59) off a corner kick from Fuller.
 
Akron continues its three-match homestand with a 7 p.m. tilt versus VCU on Wednesday, Oct. 2.