MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Junior midfielder Tiago Campos scored his first goal of the season in the 14th minute while senior goalie Alan Horrocks came up with three key saves, guiding the No. 13 Gardner-Webb (4-0) men's soccer team to a massive road win at No. 6 West Virginia (2-1-1) on Wednesday evening. The win by the Runnin' Bulldogs snapped WVU's 32-match home win streak.
"Delighted but not surprised with the outcome," said head coach Scott Wells. "We executed our game plan extremely well. It is important to take these moments in as we did against Wake Forest last season but start to understand that this is the environment we belong and want to be in. In order to do that we have to turn our attention to ETSU."
The Runnin' Bulldogs played on the back third of the field for the first 10 minutes of the contest, but when given an opportunity, they did not miss.
Campos snuck in the box after taking a beautiful feed from Robbie Lyons and Samson Kpardeh, lofting the ball over the outstretched arms of the WVU keeper while giving GWU a 1-0 lead at the 13:05 mark of the opening 45.
Gardner-Webb looked poised to double its advantage in the 37th minute after a foul was committed in the box. However, the ensuing penalty kick was smothered by Marc Bonnaire, maintaining the 1-goal deficit for the Mountaineers.
The defense of the Dawgs was solid during the first half, defending and limiting West Virginia to just four shots over the first half.
Playing from behind at the break, WVU came out aggressive to start the second half, controlling the ball in its final third for extended periods of time, but could not break the Gardner-Webb defense and put any shots on goal more than halfway through.
However, the Mountaineers, in a last-ditch effort, were able to earn two shots on cage, neither of which could get past Horrocks as he posted his third clean sheet in four games to start the season.
Gardner-Webb returns to the pitch on Saturday, September 6, playing host to East Tennessee State in its first home match of the season. Game time is set for 6 p.m. inside Greene Harbison Stadium.
