MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jorge Quintanilla converted a penalty kick in the 65th minute to lead the No. 25 West Virginia men’s soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Penn on Tuesday night.
Quintanilla’s goal lifted the Mountaineers (8-4-4) during their ninth shutout of the season, tied for fifth-most in program history. Freshman goalkeeper Steven Tekesky made three saves against the Quakers (3-10-1).
“For the first 45 minutes I thought we had a lot of the ball,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “We had a lot of control of the game, a lot of good possession that didn’t matriculate into very much.
“The second half, we really dialed it up a notch, we really put a lot of pressure on them. We had a lot more shots, a lot more activity, a lot more final third entries and a lot more penalty area entries. We draw a good PK.”
Quintanilla’s penalty-kick goal was his second goal of the season.
He had a shot from 25 yards out in the 22nd minute, but it was blocked.
Following offside calls that negated goals by both teams, Tekesky made a save in the 35th minute, and the Mountaineers prevented a chance on the ensuing corner kick.
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, Rushawn Larmond began the second half with a pass to Jad Arslan, but the Penn defense poked the ball out of the box. Ten minutes later, Arslan sent a ball into the box that went just past Quintanilla. After the WVU corner kick, senior Louis Thomas had a shot blocked.
In the 59th minute, the Mountaineers had another great chance, as Larmond had an opportunity from Arslan near the penalty kick spot, but his shot was blocked.
Following Quintanilla’s goal, West Virginia continued to apply pressure. Quintanilla had a shot saved and sophomore Logan Lucas sent a header in that went wide in the 69th minute.