West Virginia’s men’s soccer team will play in their third consecutive conference semi final on Wednesday, November 8th. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m between the No. 2 seeded Mountaineers and the No. 7 seeded South Carolina Gamecocks from the UCF Soccer Complex in Orlando, Florida.
The game can be heard on 91.7 FM (WWVU) in Morgantown, or on U92 the Moose’s website u92themoose.com with Manny Maradiegue and Quinn Robie on the call. ESPN+ will also air the game.
West Virginia defeated Georgia State 3-1 on Sunday afternoon when Yutaro Tsukada was able to find the back of the net twice and Luke McCormick found the back of the net once.
In our post-game interview with head coach Dan Stratford, he mentioned how in the first half his team started flat, and it didn't really match with the identity that they play with.
Coming into Wednesday's game, West Virginia is prepared for a fast-paced, quick, gamecock soccer team that is getting the most momentum right now, playing for their season, as they aren't necessarily guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
West Virginia is led by leading goal scorer Marcus Calderia who leads the team with 12 goals. Marcus hasn’t found the net since his 3 goal game against then top ranked Marshall. Marcus says he has to do the same thing he does every game, come in with the same mentality, just keep working on his craft. Says as long as he contributes to the team's success in some way they can win in the semifinals.
South Carolina is coming off a 2-1 upset win over the No. 2 seed, UCF, in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Gamecocks finished as the No. 7 seed in the tournament after a 6-8-3 record in the regular season.
Senior forward Adam Luckhurst leads the Gamecocks with six goals, placing him among the top ten scorers in the Sun Belt Conference.
In their regular season matchup, the Mountaineers defeated South Carolina 3-2, in Columbia on Oct. 12th.
The winner of this game will move on to face the winner of top seeded Marshall Thundering Herd, and the 5th seeded Kentucky Wildcats. That game will be played at the higher seed on Sunday, November 12th at 1:00 pm.