MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The tough tests are soon to arrive for the No. 16 WVU men’s soccer team. In the early stages of the season, the Mountaineers have shown scoring prowess throughout their roster. West Virginia improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 4-0 triumph over LaSalle Monday evening. The Mountaineers have scored nine goals in their first two regular season matches.
Senior Marcus Caldeira bookended the scoring for the Mountaineers in the 9th and the 86th minutes, giving him 31 tallies for his WVU career. He is tied with Andy Bevin for seventh place on the WVU all-time scoring list. Caldeira and Pablo Pozos have both scored three goals this season.
“We’ve got two center forwards right now on three goals through two games. I don’t know that there will be another team that will have something like that. They feel really good about themselves,” said WVU head coach Dan Stratford.
“[Pozos] got his rewards on Thursday. Obviously, Marcus got his today. We think there is a world where, and we hope there is a world where they can both be extremely dangerous for us for the rest of the season.”
“I love it. I think [the formation] utilizes Pablo’s strengths to his fullest, Isaac’s to his fullest and mine to its fullest. It shows, right? 5-2 and 4-0. I think we look more dangerous,” Caldeira said.
West Virginia played a man up for the final 54 minutes against the Explorers (0-1-1). LaSalle’s Ismael Deme was issued a red card for a tackle on Antonio Lima in the 37th minute.
“The game opens up a little bit,” Caldeira said. “They were sitting back and we took full advantage of it.”
“A ton of credit to LaSalle. I just said to the guys that there is something to learn from playing with ten men. They had no quit in them, whatsoever,” Stratford said. “I have a lot of admiration for the way they approached the game up to that point. I don’t mind saying and I spoke to their coach and said, ‘I thought the red was a little harsh’.”
West Virginia doubled their advantage with just under four minutes remaining in the first half. Ethan Dekel Daks collected the first of his two assists in the game by sending a corner kick to Thijs Veldhorst. He scored on a header with a near post run.
“The quality and consistency of service is everything,” Stratford said. “Obviously, Dekel Daks put in a wonderful ball for Thijs’ goal. I thought he has given a fantastic account of himself again tonight as well. We have some really, really good impact players coming in off the bench right now. That is adding a dimension to that attacking threat.”
Dekel Daks later assisted on Bryce Swinehart’s 63rd-minute goal.
West Virginia held a 26-4 advantage in shots and a 10-1 lead on corner kicks.
West Virginia will play their first road match Friday night at No. 21 Akron. It is the start of a span of matches that will test the Mountaineers.
“It is big, especially since me and their center back [Matthew Paiva] grew up together,” Caldeira said. That will be a battle. I am excited and I think the guys should be excited, especially since we have two big wins under our belt.”
“We have a stretch now. It is not just Akron,” Stratford said. “We have Gardner-Webb coming here the week after. They were a tournament team that has won their first two games. We go to George Mason. They are a team that under a new coach did exceptionally well last year, were ranked last year and will have something to say. They narrowly lost out at Marshall (2-1) in their first game of the season. And then a High Point team that just beat Georgetown also coming here shortly after that.”
