Well, WVU men’s soccer is officially the Sun Belt regular season champion, and honestly, I do not think anyone should be too surprised. The Mountaineers took down James Madison 2-0 Tuesday night to claim a share of the conference title with Marshall, and they have been playing some pretty good soccer lately.
WVU has won five straight games, has not allowed a goal in six straight and is heading into the Sun Belt Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Not too bad, right?
But now that the regular season is over,
it is time to start looking at what this team could do in the postseason.
Can we talk about the defense?
One thing that has really stood out to me lately is how good WVU has been defensively. The Mountaineers have not allowed a goal in 577 minutes. That’s six straight shutouts.
Six.
And while scoring goals is obviously important, this is going to be one of the biggest things WVU has going for it heading into the tournament. Goalkeeper Toby Mawer has been a huge part of that success, recording his ninth shutout of the season against James Madison.
But it is not just Mawer. The entire team has been doing a really good job of limiting opponents’ opportunities. WVU has outscored its opponents 12-0 over its last five games, which is pretty impressive considering the competition they have faced.
If the Mountaineers can keep playing like this defensively, they are going to be a pretty tough team to beat.
The offense has been pretty good, too
Of course, the defense is not the only reason WVU has been winning. The Mountaineers have also been finding ways to score, and Tuesday’s game against James Madison was another good example.
Pablo Pozos got things started in the sixth minute with a scissor-kick goal to give WVU an early 1-0 lead. And honestly, it was a pretty impressive goal. Then, in the 64th minute, Civan de Jesus Ferreira added another to make it 2-0.
One thing that has been really good about this team is that WVU has multiple players who can step up offensively. They are not relying on just one guy to score every game, and that is going to be important when they start facing tougher competition in the postseason.
The Sun Belt Tournament is up next
Now that WVU has taken care of the regular season, the next step is the conference tournament. The Mountaineers finished 10-2-4 overall and 6-1-2 in conference play, earning the No. 1 seed over Marshall because of the tiebreaker.
That also means WVU gets home-field advantage throughout the tournament as long as it keeps winning. And that’s a pretty big deal.
WVU will face Georgia Southern on Sunday, a team it already beat 1-0 earlier this season. But just because the Mountaineers won the first matchup does not mean the second one is going to be easy.
Georgia Southern has its own reasons to want a win, and WVU cannot afford to overlook anyone at this point in the season. Still, the Mountaineers have put themselves in a really good position heading into the tournament.
So, how far can WVU go?
I know it is probably a little early to start talking about another deep NCAA Tournament run, but there is definitely a reason to be excited. WVU is playing some of its best soccer right now, and that’s exactly what you want heading into the postseason.
The Mountaineers have been really good defensively, they are finding ways to score, and they have already shown they can win important games. Plus, we have seen this program have success in the postseason before.
In 2024, WVU won both the Sun Belt regular-season and tournament championships, so this program knows what it takes to win in the postseason.
Obviously, there is still a lot of soccer left to play, and winning the regular season title does not guarantee anything. But WVU has a really good opportunity to make another run.
And after the way the Mountaineers have been playing lately, I am pretty excited to see what happens next. February might be when baseball comes back, but for now, I am not ready for soccer season to end.
