WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. — The Mountaineers (1-0-0) opened the regular season with a 1-0 victory over Monmouth (0-1-0) Friday.
After a scoreless first half for both teams, Ethan Shim sank a shot in the 50th minute to put West Virginia up. The Mountaineers continued to attack the net with Andres Muriel Abino registering three shots on goal in his five attempts.
Tsubasa Takada (2 shots), Albert Andres-Llop (3 shots) and Shim (2 shots) each had a single shot on goal. Steven Tekesky stopped all three Hawks’ shots on goal out of the six total shots.
West Virginia had the 7-5 advantage in corners and registered three offsides and eight fouls. Monmouth had two offsides calls and 11 fouls.
“The guys played well today, really well,” coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “For us to be clicking in the manner that we did for our first game was very, very positive. If not for some very good goalkeeping, and we hit the post a couple of times, maybe we could’ve gotten a few more (goals). There are some things we want to clean up, and we think we can get better from, but I thought the guys were excellent tonight.”
The Mountaineers return to action on Sept. 2 with a road game at Delware (0-1-0). The Blue Hens will look to redeem themselves after a 5-0 shutout at Villanova.
