BUCKHANNON — Freshman midfielder Damon Keller stepped onto the Culpepper Stadium game pitch for the first time Sunday and 22 minutes later scored his first goal as a Bobcat (and first goal of the match), enroute to West Virginia Wesleyan College’s 6-0 shutout of the visiting Salem University Tigers.
After dropping its last three matches, all to conference rivals, the Bobcats picked up the nonconference victory to move its record to 6-4-1 overall and 3-3-1 in the MEC.
The Bobcats’ Erik Rostoen provided the assist to Keller’s goal on a cross from the left to his unmarked teammate. Just seven minutes later, Rostoen added his own goal after taking a feeder from Sam Newell and racing past Tigers defenders to fire the winner far post.
Wesleyan’s season goal leader Sinasi Emre Deniz added two more to his tally with two unassisted goals in the 47th and 72nd minutes, and Max Evans got help from Rostoen to score his third goal of the season at the 62-minute mark.
Rounding out the scoring in the match’s final minute was Casey Bunker who put away a penalty kick for a Salem takedown inside the 18.
“We asked a lot of this group this week, and I couldn’t be prouder of their response,” said head coach Josh Spencer. “We played at a different level to that in the last few games, and thoroughly deserved to win the way we did.”
Wesleyan travels to Wheeling University on Wednesday, Oct. 11 for a MEC matchup that starts at 7:30 p.m.
