MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The No. 24 West Virginia men’s soccer team allowed 17 shots but Jose Santos notched his sixth consecutive shutout in a 3-0 victory over American on Tuesday night.
Santos made a career-high seven saves and extended his shutout streak to 615 minutes for the Mountaineers (5-1-1, who outscored the opposition 9-0 on a five-match homestand.
“It’s been a good run and we’re defending very well,” West Virginia coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “They were a difficult team to defend against because they just put the ball forward every single time they got it. They tried to push it in the box and our back four were warriors, our midfield scrapped and fought, and we had to tonight because of the style they’re going to play.”
American (3-2-3) was held scoreless for the first time this season.
Felix Angerer gave WVU a lead 11 minutes into the match with his second goal of the season.
Within the first eight minutes of the second half, the Mountaineers put the game away on goals by Rushawn Larmond and Griffin Libhart.
“We were creating chances (in previous matches), we just weren’t finishing them,” LeBlanc said. “In the last two games, we’ve punished our opponent. Tonight we punished them severely and I think this team is starting to get in a little bit of a rhythm. Starting to get a little bit of that winning becoming a habit-type thing.”