PORTSMOUTH – On a turf field that was scorching hot all afternoon, that was exactly how the offense started each half for men's soccer against West Virginia Tech. These quick strikes, two in the opening half and one in the second half, carried the Bears (2-2) to a 3-2 win over the visiting Golden Bears (5-1-1). Tuesday afternoon's loss was the first that West Virginia Tech had suffered this season in what was its seventh game of the year.
Not only was the victory on Tuesday afternoon the first loss of the season for the Golden Bears, it marked the first time in program history that Shawnee State was able to tame their former conference foes. SSU was 0-3-1 all-time vs. WVT coming into this season with the tie coming during the 2011 season.
Martyn Sayer scored his first career goal to get the offense going while Joseph Webster scored a goal in each half, including the game-winner in the second half. Webster was also credited with the assist on the opening goal of the game and was named the Portsmouth Pizzeria Man of the Match for his efforts. Nick Dowdell was credited with the assist on both of Webster's goals.
Scoreless in its previous two games, SSU wasted little time against the Golden Bears as Webster got the ball inside of the 18 before Sayer would eventually drill a beautiful shot to the far side for his first career goal. That goal came just 1:08 into the game.
Webster would then do the finishing on the second goal of the game as he took a pass from Dowdell and drilled it home in the 12th minute of play to give the Bears a 2-0 lead just 11:03 into the contest. However, West Virginia Tech would quickly answer back just 1:09 later to make it 2-1.
After a fast and furious opening 12-plus minutes which saw three goals scored, the action settled down and neither side would score for the remaining 33:48 of that half.
However, the goal scoring would pick up again to start the second half as Webster netted his second goal of the game on a pass by Dowdell that put him out in front of the defense. The flags stayed down and Webster would take care of the rest to give his squad a 3-1 lead with his goal in the 51st minute. However, it was like déjà vu for the Bears as soon as they got up by two goals as West Virginia Tech would score less than 40 seconds after SSU's third goal to make it 3-2 with 39:15 to play.
That would be all the closer West Virginia Tech would get as the Bears defense would not break for the remainder of the game despite relentless attacks on multiple occasions. However, that is not to conclude that there were not anxious moments down the stretch.
In both the 83rd and 90th minutes of play, West Virginia Tech had shots rattle the crossbar and on multiple occasions freshman Justin Mahlmeister was called on to make huge saves in the final 15 minutes. Perhaps no save was more impressive than his effort he made to sprawl out in heavy traffic in front of the net to cover up a loose ball in front of multiple Golden Bears looking to even the score.
As a team, West Virginia Tech took 20 shots at the Bears' rookie keeper and he would stop nine of the 11 shots that Golden Bears put on frame. In addition to the shots he faced, Malhmeister was also called on to defend seven different corner kicks over the 90 minute game. Despite all of this constant pressure, he would collect his first career victory at Shawnee State when the dust settled.
Nine different players recorded shots for the Bears on Tuesday, including seven of the starters. Webster finished with a team-high four shots while Joseph Winters and Alex Tulley recorded a pair of shots. The Bears would put 11 of their 14 attempts on frame for the game.
After a win to even their overall record four games into the season, men's soccer will open its Mid-South Conference schedule this weekend against the University of the Cumberlands. This game will be part of Alumi Weekend at the University. For the soccer program, Saturday's game will be a doubleheader with the women playing at 1 p.m. and the men to follow at 3 p.m. The Alumni Game will follow the men's game.
Notes: Joseph Webster was the third different player in three home games to be named Portsmouth Pizzeria Man of the Match … Webster now has 16 career goals and nine career assists for 41 points … Webster's second goal of the game was the fourth game-winning goal of his career which ties him with Gonzalo Perez-Beck for fourth all-time … Webster now has four multi-goal games in his SSU career and tied his career high with five points on the evening … Nick Dowdell now has four career assists, three of which have come this year as he leads the team in that category … Tuesday's game was also the first multi-point match of Dowdell's SSU career.
