The West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats started off their 2018 season with a home opener against California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans at Culpepper Field.  It was a humid wet night to begin the game with back and forth action between the two teams.
At 11 minutes into the game #5 Abdulla Nuredini from Cal U received a yellow card and from that point on it was a physical match between the two teams.
Around the 40^th minute of action in the first half, the bobcats struck first as #11 Hazuki Hashizume received a pass from #7 Kazuma Takagi, and Hashizume snuck it past the goalie, this was Hashizume’s first goal of the season.

The clock was down to 10 seconds left in the first half of play when  # 17 Paul Young, Jr struck a free kick as it curved around the Wesleyan keeper with just moments left in the first half.

After halftime, the Bobcats drew blood first,  when #12 Zach Whiting took a great pass from #8 Luca Falconieri, and Whiting did the rest as the Bobcats took a 2-1 lead in the second half.

However, it did not take much time for the Vulcans to tie the game. Paul Young Jr. again with his second goal, with around 40 minutes left to play the game was tied 2-2.

Nearly 20 minutes later of intense back and forth action, the Vulcans would end up capitalizing on a mistake from the Bobcats defense.  Antone Perry snuck one past the keeper as they took the lead 3-2 .

The Bobcats would then have an opportunity by getting a penalty shot with roughly 10 minutes left in the game. #7 Kazuma Takagi would line up to take the shot and drilled one to the left side but the goalie made a terrific stop.

The game started to get heated as two yellow cards were given out, the first was to #5 Miguel Molina for the Bobcats and just a couple minutes later, #17 Paul Young Jr. of the Vulcans received one.

Within only minutes left in the game, the crowd was silent, hoping for some late magic from the bobcats. #7 Kazuma Takagi then rebounded quickly after the penalty shot was saved, and stuck a bullet from twenty yards out to tie the game.

The game would then proceed to overtime, and towards the end of the first overtime there was an altercation down on the field which resulted in many yellow cards, 2 cards for each team. From the Bobcats it was #20 Victor Medellin and #12 Zach Whiting. For the Vulcans, it was #4 Marcos Garcia, Jr. and #13 Eric Campbell.

Within a couple minutes of the start of the second overtime, another yellow card was issued, this time to a Cal U player. The second overtime would end with the score still tied. Wesleyan out shot the visiting Vulcans by a significant margin.

The Bobcats will return to the field Sunday, September 2 at Lock Haven University a 3:00 start.