INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The West Virginia men’s soccer team is onto the second round of the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season.
Riding momentum from three consecutive wins in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, the Mountaineers beat Butler, 5-1, in Thursday’s first-round match at Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl.
Rodrigo Robles Grajera and Josh DiMatteo each scored two goals in the win.
“It was a great performance,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “Credit the players — they executed the game plan fantastically. Credit my entire staff for having this team prepared. We went out, we executed, and we had a great game plan for a very, very good Butler team that obviously deserved to be here, as well. But we were clicking tonight.”
With the win, West Virginia (10-8-2) advances to play at Marshall in a second-round match at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Against the Bulldogs, a goal from Andres Muriel Albino in the 36th minute broke a 1-all tie and sent West Virginia into halftime with the lead.
The score stayed that way until the 81st minute when DiMatteo doubled West Virginia’s advantage.
Robles Grajera and DiMatteo added insurance goals soon after to provide the final margin.
Robles Grajera gave the Mountaineers the lead less than 3 minutes into the match on a penalty kick, before Butler (11-7-2) got an equalizer from Rhys Myers.
Tsubasa Takada, Sebastian Garcia-Herreros and Luke Mccormick each had an assist in the win.