BECKLEY, W.Va. – The Concord University men's soccer team fell 3-1 to West Liberty Sunday afternoon in a Mountain East Conference contest at the YMCA Cline Complex in Beckley, West Virginia.
CU (2-10-2, 1-10-1 MEC) outshot the Hilltoppers 16-7 on the afternoon, but West Liberty (2-9-3, 2-8-3 MEC) scored three first-half goals and held off several Concord chances in the second half to secure the win.
WLU tallied a goal in the 18
th minute, and added a pair of goals just 2:03 apart from each other in the 32
nd and 34
th minutes.
Concord had three straight corner kicks in the 52
nd and 53
rd minutes, but could only produce one shot—a heading attempt from freshman defender
Alex Harris. The Mountain Lions broke through in the 60
th minute as a cross from freshman midfielder
Tomas Kelly found its way into the six-yard box where junior midfielder
Ricardo Chinea-Pegler deposited his third goal of the season.
West Liberty goalkeeper Noah Underwood made saves in the 70
th and 71
st minutes to deny the Mountain Lions. Kelly added a shot in the 74
th minute that was stopped. Freshman midfielder
Joel Walker had the next crack at Underwood, but was turned away in the 78
th and 82
nd minutes.
After the shot count was even in the first half, 6-6, CU had a decisive advantage in the second half as it took 10 of the 11 shots in the game in the second 45 minutes. Additionally, Concord took all 14 corner kicks in the game.
Harris and Walker each took three shots. Freshman forward
Louis Cole had one of his shots saved and another hit the left post in the first half.
Freshman goalkeeper
Keegan Grant made three saves.
Concord travels to Wheeling 4:00 p.m. Wednesday.
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