BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Wesleyan College men's soccer team opened its 2025 campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Mountain East Conference rival Davis & Elkins on Saturday afternoon at Nuttall Field. Despite a strong defensive performance and several promising offensive efforts, the Bobcats were unable to find the back of the net in the tightly contested match.
The match remained scoreless through the first half thanks to composed defensive work from the Bobcats and a stellar performance in goal by goalkeeper
Matteo Marciani, who notched four saves in the match. Key defensive contributions came from
Moises Moncada,
Erik Rostoen, and
Vito Stanic who helped neutralize early pressure from the Senators (5-1 advantage in shots during the opening 45 minutes).
Marciani came up big just before halftime, denying a low-driven shot from D&E's
Hugo Fauli to keep the match deadlocked at the break.
Just three minutes into the second half, Davis & Elkins broke through.
Francisco Lopez Kreik converted a setup from
Chinedu Ikem in the 48th minute, giving the Senators a 1-0 lead. It proved to be the lone goal of the contest despite a flurry of activity on both ends of the pitch.
Wesleyan responded with increased intensity, including quality looks from
Abdul Bediako and
Hayden Dodd, who each recorded shots on goal, but D&E goalkeeper
Charlie Phillips came up with timely saves to preserve the shutout.
Statistical Summary
- Shots: D&E 15, WVWC 3
- Shots on Goal: D&E 7, WVWC 2
- Corner Kicks: D&E 10, WVWC 4
- Saves: WVWC 6 (Marciani), D&E 2 (Phillips)
- Fouls: WVWC 11, D&E 9
- Yellow Cards: 7 total (4 for WVWC, 3 for D&E)
Wesleyan (0-1-0, 0-1-0 MEC) will look to bounce back as they prepare for a midweek conference showdown at Frostburg State University on Wednesday, Sept. 10. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.
