MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No. 16 West Virginia scored an early goal, surrendered a relatively late one, had a penalty kick taken away by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) moments later, and then benefited from the replay system disallowing what originally was a go-ahead goal with inside 8 minutes remaining from 11th-ranked South Carolina.
Altogether, the Mountaineers and Gamecocks battled to a 1-1 tie on Saturday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
“Ultimately, I think it was probably a fair result based on the quality of chances,” WVU head coach Dan Stratford said.
With its second consecutive draw, WVU ran its record to 5-1-3 overall and 1-0-2 within the Sun Belt Conference, while extending its unbeaten streak to eight matches. South Carolina is now 7-1-2 and also 1-0-2 in the SBC.
It was a stellar start against a stout opponent for West Virginia, which broke through in the 12th minute when Isaac Scheer capitalized on a cross from Jacob Redenfors and made the most of a prime opportunity by beating Gamecocks’ goalkeeper Noah Scheidweiler. Along with Redenfors, Aurélien Cormier was credited with an assist.
“We had a good rotation out wide and I saw the chance,” Scheer said. “Jacob’s a good crosser, so just made sure I was in the right spot and once it got there, it was pretty simple.”
That was part of a strong opening stretch for West Virginia, and Stratford felt his team largely excelled for a good chunk of the first half, which ended with the Mountaineers clinging to the 1-0 lead.
“The first 30 minutes spoiled us a little bit. We were really excellent for 30 minutes, really deserved the goal and played some wonder football keeping the game in areas where we felt we could cause them problems,” Stratford said. “Our identity really emerged in those first 30 minutes and maybe we got greedy as a staff from the sense that the game didn’t stay at that level.”
South Carolina began to dictate play more in the late stages of the opening half, and the Gameocks eventually pulled even in the 71st minute when Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez scored his fifth goal this season off an assist from Loic Sany Kong.
“I wanted a little bit more from the second half,” Stratford said. “I thought we could’ve had longer spells as we did in the first half. We were a little bit safe and a little bit conservative in some of what we did to build the game. Didn’t realize some of the actions and processes we had to break them in the first half were just as available to us in the second.
“Even with a little bit more pressure that they came with, we didn’t make the necessary adjustments and maybe played it a little bit safer. Perhaps because we’re 1-nil up and it’s a subconscious thing, but we probably need to be a little bit braver than we were in the second half to continue to commit to what we do within our identity.”
Less than 4 minutes after SC pulled even, the Mountaineers were awarded a penalty kick for what was deemed a foul against Scheer inside the 18-yard box.
However, the call was further examined on VAR and overturned.
With the game still tied at 1, the Gamecocks scored what looked to be their second goal with inside 8 minutes remaining.
That play was also checked on VAR, and the goal was ultimately wiped out as a result of an advantageous shove from Velazquez-Lopez that originally hadn’t been called.
“It felt like there was an extension of the arms,” Stratford said. “Maybe it looked clearer to me than it did when he watched it back, because he took some time over it. But that’s what the process is there for. That would’ve been really harsh to be what decided the game as well. He has to make his decision and he was obviously happy to overturn the penalty on the other end and had no problem overturning that one. I respect that he had the humility maybe to accept when he might have been wrong and make what he thought was the right decision ultimately.”
West Virginia generated a late free kick for another scoring opportunity, but couldn’t capitalize and settled for the tie.
Noah Scheidweiler stopped three shots and WVU keeper Toby Mawer made two saves.
A crowd of 1,928 took in the matchup.
“I’m super grateful for every fan that came out tonight,” said Scheer, whose goal marked his first this season and the seventh of his career. “Mountaineer Nation always supports. We really hope they keep coming out even though we didn’t get the result we wanted. I promise we will next time. The next game at home against Kentucky [October 16], I hope they all come out again.”