On Wednesday at 3 p.m., West Virginia Wesleyan (10-5-3) will host Urbana University (10-6-0) in the opening round of the MEC men’s soccer tournament.
WVWC’s Juwon Akintunde led the league in scoring this season with 17 goals. He started the season scoring at least one goal in seven of his first eight games and is ranked in the top 10 nationally in goals and goals per game. West Virginia Wesleyan has been the only team to score more than one goal against Charleston earlier this season, and the Bobcats were the only team to get a point off of UC with a draw just last week against the Golden Eagles.
The Blue Knights use a balanced approach in scoring this season with six players recording at least four goals this year. In fact, those six players have accounted for all of UU’s 29 goals on the season. Antoine Ravera leads the way with seven, but Jacob Wischmeier and Benjamin Cancian each have five, and Thibaut Bourrier, Harry Tamplin and Jasminko Dizdarevic each have four. Urbana has recorded just three shutouts on the year, but is playing perhaps its best soccer of the season having won six of its last seven with the lone setback coming to No. 1 Charleston two weeks ago.
WVWC and UU split their two decisions this season with the Bobcats winning 3-0 at home back on Sept. 8, and the Blue Knights avenging that loss on their home turf with a 2-1 win in overtime. UU held Akintunde to one goal in the two games, while Bourrier had a brace for the Blue Knights in the victory.
All-MEC honorees
The Urbana University men’s soccer team had six players recognized by the Mountain East Conference as the league announced its annual awards on Monday.
Harry Tamplin (Kings Langley, England) and Antoine Ravera (Le Mans, France) landed on the All-MEC First Team while Thibaut Bourrier (Le Cres, France), Jasminko Dizdarevic (St. Charles, Ill.) and Zach Poff (Trenton, Ohio) earned a spot on the All-MEC Second Team. In addition, Benjamin Cancian (St-Laurent-Du-Var, France) received honorable mention and Poff also appeared on the league’s All-Freshman squad.
The University of Charleston’s Will Roberts, Thomas Vancaeyezeele and Kieran Bywater, along with West Virginia Wesleyan’s Gavin Donaldson, earned top honors from the MEC.
The All-MEC teams are selected by a vote of the league’s coaches.
