TAMPA, Fla. - TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 4 seeded West Virginia men’s soccer team fell 4-1 in the BIG EAST quarterfinals to No. 1 seeded South Florida Saturday evening in Tampa.
The Mountaineers (16-7-2, 6-4-1 BIG EAST) came out of the gates very strong in the match, but couldn’t weather a four-goal second half by No. 20 USF (11-5-0, 9-2-0 BIG EAST).
Seabolt had his first difficult decision of the night to make before the match even started, as defender Pat Carroll was unable to start his first match of the season due to an eye injury he suffered the night before. Instead of moving junior Chris Wittig back to the defense in place of Carroll, the coach chose to let Mitchell Snowden make his first career start.
Snowden played exceptional in place of Carroll as he and the rest of the defense limited the USF offense for most of the first half.
The Bulls got the first goal scoring opportunity of the night eight minutes into the match when midfielder Kevon Neaves broke loose on the right side of the field and ripped a hard, low shot. Junior goalkeeper Nick Noble was up to the challenge as he made a diving stop.
Just two minutes later sophomore midfielder Geoff Cameron found space 25 yards in front of the net and punched a shot to the lower left corner of the goal that forced USF goalkeeper Dane Brenner to lay out for a save of his own.
Unlike the first match between the two schools earlier in the year WVU would not allow the Bulls to take the early lead as the team recorded its 32nd goal of the season. The Mountaineers were awarded a free kick at the top left corner of the goal box that sophomore midfielder Dan Stratford lined up to take. The London, England, native sent in a beautiful outward bending ball to the goal mouth that fellow Englander Andy Wright was able to head past Brenner.
In the 28th minute Neaves would have an attempt to equalize the match when he belted a shot towards the goal that once again required Noble to make a diving save, this time to his left side.
Wittig made an appearance for WVU in the 37th minute, replacing forward Zak Boggs. The substitution by Seabolt switched the team’s formation from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1, with Wittig being the extra midfielder, and stifled USF’s offense for the rest of the period.
Both teams went into the halftime break with seven shots and three of them on goal, however, the Mountaineers owned the 1-0 lead.
South Florida would storm back in the second half though as it would get four goals in less than eight minutes. In the 65th minute freshman forward Jordan Seabrook poked a ball through the defense that found forward Rodrigo Hidalgo open in the box. Hidalgo was forced towards the goal line by Noble, however, the West Palm Beach, Fla., native was able to bend the tying goal into the far side net before he stepped out of bounds.
Shortly after the goal Noble momentarily kept the score tied with a diving save that gave USF a corner. On the ensuing corner kick Hidalgo crossed a ball in that defender Yohance Marshall headed in to make the score 2-1 in the 67th minute.
The Bulls would pad their lead in the 69th minute when Seabrook connected with Kareem Smith, who crossed in a ball in to the box. Sophomore Simon Schoendorf was able to finish with a header goal.
South Florida put the game away in the 73rd minute when Brian Gil and Smith put together a combination pass that Hidalgo finished with a volley from three yards out in front of the goal.
WVU ended the match with 15 shots, while USF recorded 16. Noble made seven saves and allowed all four goals. Brenner made three saves and allowed the lone West Virginia goal.
The Mountaineers must now wait for the possibility of an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament that will be decided on Monday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m.
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