BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — Nika Monaselidze’s second-half stunner helped the West Virginia Wesleyan (2-0-0) men’s soccer team to a 2-1 win over Concord (0-2-0) at Ross Field on Sunday.
The Bobcats came out on the attack in the first half, but did not find the back of the net. Wesleyan ended the first half with eight total shots, five of which were on target. Monaselidze and Javier De Ona Garcia both tallied two shots on frame in the first 45 minutes.
Similar to last week Wesleyan got on the board first in the second half. Off a beautiful over the top ball from freshman Hunter Dierlam, the ball landed on Lauri Vasa’s boot. Vasa continued into the box and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.
The Bobcats were not finished, just four minutes later Monaselidze dribbled past three defenders to find himself in space. No stranger to scoring opportunities Monaselidze knew what to do from there and hammered the ball past the Concord keeper.
“I was just lucky,” Monaselidze said. “After getting past three people I saw the goal and took a chance.”
The goal was Monaselidze’s first appearance on the scoresheet.
After some back-and-forth play from both sides, Concord shortened the Bobcat lead in the 71st minute when Ricardo Chinea gathered a loose ball and used his right foot to drive the ball into the right corner to give Wesleyan a 2-1 advantage.
After a pair of stoppages for injury, the Bobcats relied on sophomore captain Connor Hartwell to control the midfield. WVWC held on to take the 2-1 decision at home.
“We haven’t nearly hit our height so far,” Hartwell said. “We just have to keep improving game-by-game and see where that gets us.”
Bobcat men’s soccer is scheduled for its first away contest next Sunday (March 7) in Philippi, W.Va., against Alderson Broaddus at 4:30 p.m.
Photos from the match by My Buckhannon’s Brian Bergstrom:
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