MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With several marquee victories during its unbeaten start to the season, West Virginia’s men’s soccer team has worked its way into the discussion among the nation’s best and entered Tueday’s match against Dayton with a No. 4 national ranking.
Still, WVU head coach Dan Stratford wants his team to consistently display a killer instinct, and the Mountaineers took a step in the right direction with their 3-0 victory over the Flyers on a rainy night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
“I want us to continue to own it and continue to embrace the fact that we border on that arrogance and confidence to say when teams come here they are lesser opponents than we are,” Stratford said. “We’re going to have that ruthless element to us that when we go 1-nil up, we’re going to go 2-nil up and we’re going to go 3-nil up. We’ve yet to have that game this season. Today was close, but we’ve really broken out and shown just how ruthless we can be and that killer instinct.”
Dayton (3-3-2) put together its best stretch of the contest early and generated pressure over the first 15 minutes.
“We knew that they were going to come with a lot of energy to start the game,” Stratford said. “We’re a target, right? We’re a top five ranked team right now and with respect, we’re going to be a lot of teams’ marquee fixture.”
But WVU (5-0-2) got a goal from Yoran Popovic — his second of the season — to strike first in the 20th minute, and that advantage stood through the opening half.
Although Dayton didn’t register a shot on goal over the first 45 minutes, the Flyers fired three shots and had three corner kicks.
Popovic’s goal helped the Mountaineers settle in, and they showed no sign of becoming complacent in the second half.
As the rain continued to fall harder throughout the match, WVU maintained the majority of possession and got a goal from Kyle Lehnert at the 76:18 mark to double its advantage. Pau Jimenez Albelda was credited with an assist on Lehnert’s goal.
Playing without forward Ike Swiger and midfielder Luke McCormick, it was another welcome sign for Stratford, who has sung the praises of his team’s reserves over the first month of the season.
“The sub story continues,” Stratford said. “We have continued to talk about the quality of depth that we have within this squad. Kyle and Elijah [Borneo] both played and had significant minutes for us in the spring. We feel very comfortable with both of them. Elijah won’t get the accolades in terms of the goal and the assist, but when he came on late in the first half and continued, his energy and effort was fantastic as well.“
With 2:12 to play, WVU made it 3-0 on an own goal.
The Flyers did not get a shot off in the second half and WVU goalkeeper Steven Tekesky recorded the clean sheet without making a save.
“We knew that there was going to be energy to start the game and they actually tried to set a high press, which was interesting,” Stratford said. “It’s something we had to manage, but after 15 minutes, we really settled in and then it was about making sure we got the second goal. It took a little longer than I would’ve liked, but very pleased with how we came out in the second half.”
Dayton keeper Marc Kouadio stopped five shots in defeat.
It marked the fourth shutout this season for the Mountaineers, who have surrendered four goals through seven matches.