INDIANAPOLIS — The West Virginia men’s soccer team exploded in 5-1 win over Butler in the first round of the NCAA tournament Thursday at the Sellick Bowl.
Sophomore forward Josh DiMatteo and freshman forward Rodrigo Robles Grajera each scored a pair of goals in the win, while senior midfielder Andres Muriel Albino scored the game-winner for the Mountaineers, who won their fourth match in a row. The win marks the squad’s first NCAA Tournament road win since 1981.
“It was a great performance,” WVU coach Marlon LeBlanc said. “Credit the players — they executed the game plan fantastically. Credit my entire staff for having this team prepared. We went out, we executed, and we had a great game plan for a very, very good Butler team that obviously deserved to be here, as well. But we were clicking tonight.”
WVU (10-8-2) dominated the host Bulldogs (11-7-2) for much of the night, holding a 21-6 advantage in shots. The Mountaineers also registered a season-best 15 shots on goal, the most since 2011.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring less than three minutes into the match on a penalty-kick goal by Robles Grajera. After the Bulldogs recorded a hand ball inside the box, the Burgos, Spain native converted on the first of his two goals on the night.
A few minutes later, WVU created two more big chances on a shot by senior midfielder Ryan Kellogg and a header by DiMatteo. However, Butler was able to escape without conceding, keeping the match at 1-0.
In the 21st minute, the Bulldogs found the equalizer on a goal by Rhys Myers off a corner kick. Then, Muriel Albino, who came into the match as a first-half substitute, got the Mountaineers back on top with a beauty of a goal that beat the Butler goalkeeper Gabriel Gjergji far post in the 36th.
That gave West Virginia a 2-1 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, the Mountaineers came out defensive-minded, limiting Butler to many opportunities in its final third. In the 79th minute, though, junior goalkeeper Steven Tekesky came up big, tallying his lone save of the evening with a diving effort to help keep the WVU lead.
Butler finished with just two shots on goal in the loss.
Moments later, West Virginia erupted with three goals in a three-and-a-half-minute span. DiMatteo tallied his first after finishing a rebound off Gjergji to make it 3-1 in the 81st. Then, just 39 seconds later, Robles Grajera completed his brace on a diving header goal off a saved penalty kick.
DiMatteo put on the finishing touches in the 84th minute with his second goal of the night. The Pittsburgh native initially hit the post but cleaned up the tally with an open look to make it 5-1.
“We refocused, reset and regenerated,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve played four games in like 10 days now, so we had to manage that properly. We quickly moved on from winning the MAC Championship. We’ll enjoy this one tonight, and we’ll quickly move on in preparation for the next round.”
With the win, WVU will move on to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. The Mountaineers will travel to Huntington for a 2 p.m. matchup against No. 11-seeded Marshall on Sunday at Hoops Family Field.
