BUCKHANNON — The West Virginia Wesleyan College men’s soccer team said goodbye to the 2018 season in style on Sunday, beating the visiting Shepherd Rams 6-0 to close the year on a four-game win streak.
The ‘Cats, who struggled in a slate of nailbiters early in the season and then worked through a rash of injuries, showed their potential as the season wound down, beating Concord, Urbana, Seton Hill and Shepherd to finish the year.
Matt Bentley played a key role in that run. His impressive one-week performance included three hat tricks and a finally tally of 10 goals, including three against the Rams Sunday.
Liam Igoe, Luca Faconieri and Zach Whiting also scored Sunday as head coach Gavin Donaldson had the opportunity to bring his seniors off the pitch to rousing applause.
According to Wesleyan’s online roster, the ‘Cats will say goodbye to seniors Dominic Okus, Miguel Molina, Hazuki Hashizume, Whiting and Callum Butler. Senior Guillermo Rueda played just two games in 2018 before going down with an injury.
The Bobcats ended the year with a 6-9-2 record and finished 5-9 in the Mountain East Conference. The top four teams advanced to the MEC tournament: No. 1 Charleston will play Nov. 4 Urbana, while No. 2 Notre Dame will take on No. 3 Wheeling Jesuit. Those games will be played Wednesday.
Charleston has won all the MEC tournament titles except one — Wesleyan claimed that honor last season when they toppled the eventual national champions.
