MORGANTOWN – Sometimes, even scoreless soccer can bring forth unlimited action and entertainment despite the scoreline.
That’s been the case in the Mountain State Derby between No. 10 West Virginia and No. 8 Marshall this season, as the two meetings between the in-state rivals have produced 200 minutes of matches without yielding a single goal.
The Mountaineers earned the result they needed in Huntington on November 5 to finish as the Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Champions, playing to a 0-0 draw. But on Sunday in Morgantown, one team had to finish on top and walk away lifting the SBC tournament title.
Goalkeeper Marc Bonnaire’s save in the sixth round of a decisive penalty kick shootout lifted the Mountaineers to victory.
“When we played in the regular season, I didn’t feel like we gave the best account of ourselves and played to our full potential at their place,” WVU head coach Dan Stratford said. “We were hungry and excited to give a fair reflection of the team that we really are. I think, with great respect to a very good Marshall team, we were fully deserving of the result today.”
The Mountaineers (12-1-7) had multiple chances to find the go-ahead goal throughout the contest, and seemed to do so as junior forward Marcus Caldeira nodded the ball into the net in the 12th minute but was called for offsides.
Two other chances showed themselves for WVU in the 28th and 37th minutes, but Marshall goalkeeper Aleksa Janjic made a pair of impressive saves, as he did many times in the match.
After 90 minutes without a goal from either club, the match headed to overtime.
Jancic was called upon and answered again for the Herd in the first overtime, tipping a shot over the crossbar that was rifled from the top of the box by Simon Carlson. Then, from the ensuing corner kick, Sergio Ors Navarro headed a ball towards the net that struck the outside of the post.
20 extra minutes weren’t enough to find a winner, and the match headed to penalty kicks.
Ors Navarro opened the shootout with a shot that hit both posts before rolling across the line for a goal.
“That was one of the most unbelievable penalties I have ever seen,” WVU goalkeeper Marc Bonnaire said. “It quite literally rolled one time across the line and then stopped after hitting both posts. It was crazy.”
Both teams converted all five of their penalties, leading to a sudden death shootout beginning in the sixth round of kicks.
Dyon Dromers, who has battled multiple injuries the past two seasons, stepped up to the spot for WVU and buried his attempt into the corner of the net.
That gave Bonnaire the opportunity to leave his impact on the match and the 2024 campaign. He did so by diving to his left and stopping the Marshall attempt in the sixth round of the shootout. The save captured the 2024 SBC Tournament Championship for the Mountaineers.
“We talked about at the start of the year that we wanted to do something special this year as a team. I feel like everyone has bought into that,” WVU graduate student midfielder Ryan Baer said. “We all have full faith in Coach Strats and know what it takes to reach the places we want to go.”
Now, with the 2024 NCAA Tournament coming up next, Stratford and his club will await to find where they fall in the bracket as the automatic qualifier from the SBC.
WVU is currently No. 16 in the NCAA RPI. The NCAA Soccer Tournament Selection Show is set for 1:00 p.m. on Monday.
