Buckhannon, W.Va. – The West Virginia Wesleyan Men’s Soccer team downed the University of Charleston 2-1 Saturday evening.

The Bobcat’s fell to the Golden Eagles earlier on this year but proved their worth with well-earned home win.

It was Wesleyan’s Matthew Brown who had the first chances of the game. In the 4^th minute, Brown from the top of the box had a shot that looked destined for the back of the net but a slight deflection off the Golden Eagle’s defender saw the ball go just wide. Brown had another opportunity in the 9^th minute, after he received a ball from Joe Ferraracci; his shot was well-struck but was always rising and went over.

In the 16^th minute, Ferraracci almost gave the Bobcats the lead when he dispossessed a Charleston defender in the box, but was quickly closed down by the Golden Eagle’s goalkeeper Fabian Veit who smothered the shot.

Rodrigo Bevaqua made a darting run toward the Golden Eagle’s goal in the 20^th minute, but his shot from the edge of the box skimmed wide of the near post. Joe Rajakumar had a similar opportunity in the 23^rd minute, when he dribbled towards the goal pulling his left-footed shot just wide.

Wesleyan enjoyed a good spell of pressure in the first 25 minutes with the game going into the half tied 0-0.

The Golden Eagle’s gave the Bobcat’s a scare in the 47^th minute, when Pascal Pireddu had a shot from the edge of the box to only be denied by Wesleyan’s Derek Ayers.

The best chance of the game so far fell to Brown in the 60^th minute. The ball fell to Brown 8 yards out, under pressure; his first time shot was tipped wide by an acrobatic save from Veit.

With 62 minutes played, Brown on the left passed the ball inside to Bevaqua, who found Ferraracci wide right of the box. Ferraracci shaped up to cross the ball, but surprised Veit with a curling ball that found the top left upper ninety.

With the 1-0 lead, the Bobcat’s were dealt a blow when a rash tackle from Bevaqua in the 66^th minute earned him a straight red card.

Charleston attempted to make the most of their one man advantage but the Bobcat’s stood strong. Things leveled up in the 77^th minute when the Golden Eagle’s Renan Ramos lost his cool and was shown red for swinging at a Wesleyan player.

In the 81^st minute, Charleston almost squared things up when Jake Young found himself with the ball in the box but could not beat Ayers. Immediately after Wesleyan countered, Ayers released the ball to Brown whose through-ball to Ferraracci drew Veit out of the box. Ferraracci was the first to the ball and took his shot early scoring his second of the game giving the Bobcat’s the 2-0 lead.

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