Bentley’s four-goal haul gives ‘Cats win over Urbana

BUCKHANNON — Matt Bentley scored four goals as the West Virginia Wesleyan College men’s soccer team upset Urbana 4-1 at home on Sunday.

Bentley’s return from an early-season injury appears complete as he ripped the Blue Knight’s defense to shreds to lead his squad to an easy upset.

At first, Urbana looked like the team that entered the game with a 6-3-2 record, scoring in just the 10th minute on a Jasminko Dizarevic strike.

But with neither team looking particularly hot on the cold Sunday afternoon, Bentley decided to light a fire.

In the 19th minute, Liam Igoe played a through ball to Bentley, who slotted it past the charging Urbana keeper for his fifth goal of the season.

Bentley would strike again and give the Bobcats the lead in the 38th minute. Andrew Polychroniadis assisted a perfect ball through to the foot of Bentley, who once again made the keeper pay.

The Bobcats would take the 2-0 lead into half, and the first 25 minutes of the second half would remain physical with a lot of back and forth action.

Bentley increased Wesleyan’s lead again in the 73rd minute when he completed his hat trick. The assist was credited to Luca Faconieri, who played the ball in the box from the right sideline.

Just in case their was any doubt, Bentley completed his masterful performance with a fourth goal in the 86th minute. Kazuma Takagi received the ball on the right wing and carried it until the last moment when he played a ball to Bentley, who had a one-on-one with the keeper. He played it through the keepers leg’s to put the game at its final 4-1 margin.

With the win, Wesleyan improved to 4-9-2 on the year. They’ll play at Seton Hill on Wednesday in a non-conference match before closing out the regular season at home against the woeful 1-15 Shepherd Rams on Sunday. Kickoff for that game is set for 1 p.m.