No. 6 West Virginia University Mountaineers Men’s Soccer (2-0-1) takes on the No. 13 Gardner-Webb University Runnin’ Bulldogs at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Following a 0-0 road draw against the No. 11 University of Akron Zips in its last match, WVU will look to get back in the win column against another tough foe. The Runnin’ Bulldogs have won all three contests in the young season.
Senior forward Marcus Caldeira leads the Mountaineers in both goals and assists with three apiece. Caldeira was named the preseason Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year and is the reigning Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week.
Wingate transfer junior forward Pablo Pozos is tied for the goal lead after a hat trick in his WVU debut against Manhattan University. He was rewarded with the first Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week award of the season for his scoring outburst.
Senior forward Jaylen Orr leads the Runnin’ Bulldogs in goals with three. The Gardner-Webb defense has only allowed one goal through 270 minutes of play this season.
West Virginia typically runs a 4-1-3-1-1 formation with its left center back, Carlos Hernando, inverted throughout the midfield and attack, two wingbacks and a deep central defensive midfielder. Gardner-Webb trots out a low block with two defensive central midfielders.
U82 The Caribou will bring live coverage of the game against Gardner-Webb University with Nico Caretto on play-by-play. Conor Bratchford will add color analysis. The commentators will hold a brief pregame show 20 minutes before kick-off.
Kick-off for the matchup against the Runnin’ Bulldogs is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The game will be broadcast on U82, the secondary stream of U92 The Moose, due to a West Virginia Black Bears game at the same time.
The broadcast can be heard at u82thecaribou.com or u92themoose.com/82.