TicketsSept. 8, 2006
- The University of Cincinnati men's soccer team was shutout for the third straight game as No. 10 West Virginia handed UC a 2-0 defeat on Friday night in front of 713 at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. The Bearcats fall to 2-2-1 on the season while WVU stays undefeated at 4-0-1.
's (4-0-1) Jarrod Smith put the Mountaineers on top in the 53rd minute after Dan Stratford's shot was saved by UC's Mike Vessells. The ball landed at the feet of Smith with Vessels laying prone in the goal box. He slammed home the empty net goal for his second of the season.
Mike Anoia put the match away in the 84th minute when Smith got behind the UC defense and found a streaking Anoia all alone on the far side for his first of the season.
A few minutes later, Kenny Anaba had a outstanding chance beating his defender and moving in on goal, one-on-one with Noble. Anaba took one too many touches and Noble was able to slide out and knock the ball away.
A physical first half saw a pair of yellow cards handed out and several players on the ground throughout UC's Patrick Baxter was booked in the 23rd minute after a hard foul at midfield. 's Asraf Ahmad earned a yellow after a late challenge near midfield.
Noah Davidson has a pair of chances inside the box, one a header flicked on goal from about six yards that was pushed away by WVU keeper Nick Noble. Just moments later, on a restart, Davidson got a foot on an Omar Cummings free kick, but was again denied by Noble.
Smith nearly gave WVU the lead after taking a through ball into space in front of UC netminder Mike Vessells. His strike to the far post was handled by Vessells just before crossing the goal line.
"We're obviously disappointed with the result," said head coach Hylton Dayes. "Our guys gave a really good effort tonight and we were a little unlucky not to score in the first half. We made a couple of mistakes in the second half and we paid for them against a really good team."
Noble earned his 30th career shutout and his fourth this season. He has allowed just one goal in five matches.
The Bearcats will take on for the first time in program history when the teams meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Founders Field.