Frostburg State University Athletics

FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Men's Soccer Team took a 3-0 home shutout victory against West Liberty on Wednesday evening.

The first twelve minutes of play saw little action from either side aside from two chances by sophomore Frank Stare, one being blocked and the next going just wide of the right post. It took 10 minutes for another effort, as junior Dom Good took his first shot of the night, which missed just wide left. The Bobcats finally got on the board when a throw-in from senior Brian Gomez led to a scramble between both sides, as freshman Abdallah Soulemana tried for a header that was blocked before classmate Lynghton Romage was first to react in putting the ball past goalkeeper, Shai'ya Fitzgerald and inside the post to put FSU up 1-0. 

WLU looked to respond quickly, taking their first chance when a foul just outside the area gave a great chance on a free kick, which graduate keeper Josiah Emerson had to smartly dive to his left to save. Another throw-in from Frostburg led to sophomore Inzaghi Harmon getting in behind but getting blockedl West Liberty ended the half on the front foot, sending a trio of shots at goal, two of which were blocked by the Bobcats' defense and the final being headed right at Emerson off a corner to preserve the lead heading into the second half.

FSU came out of the gate with plenty of momentum, taking five shots in six minutes, with the first two coming from Good and sophomore Spencer Davis off two near-side corners before the offense shifted to the opposite corner, where Soulemana took the next three chances but couldn't test Fitzgerald. For the next seven minutes, each side peppered the goal, with WLU taking shots from distance, as Stare and sophomore Christ Fopposi each also missed the mark. Nearing the 65th minute, Frostburg struck again, as graduate Mateo Cudaros played an excellent ball through to Stare sprinting down the pitch, who cut inside on his favored left foot and passed underneath Fitzgerald for a 2-0 lead.

Still looking for more and with West Liberty unable to truly threaten the backline much, Harmon had a chance with some nice footwork getting him into a shooting position but fired right at Fitzgerald. The Hilltoppers then tested Emerson with a liner right at him, followed by back-to-back blocked shots. Three minutes later, WLU thought they had a way back into the game, as Alec Aceves met an inswinging corner and peeled away to celebrate, but Emerson somehow reacted quick enough to throw up a hand and put the shot over the bar. On the resulting corner, the Hilltoppers had a pair of shots charged down by Bobcat defenders, as sophomore Tristan Ruble cleared the ball into the path of Harmon, who started a run 30 yards from his own goal and dribbled all the way into the West Liberty penalty area before sliding a shot past Fitzgerald for Frostburg's third of the day. 

Both sides found chances in the next two minutes, with Emerson showing outstanding reflexes again to parry away an effort from Leyton Collier, then Harmon just missed his second goal of the night at the other end. WLU put up their final effort that was going wide, while sophomore David Williams had two chances before the clock hit zero, first lifting the ball just over the bar with only Fitzgerald to beat, then hitting his next effort right at the Hilltopper keeper to end things with the 3-0 win. 

Frostburg held a 19-14 advantage in shots with six on goal compared to West Liberty's five.

With the win, the Bobcats improve to 4-0-2 while the Hilltoppers take their first loss of the season, falling to 4-1. FSU hits the road on Sunday, September 20 to face Point Park at Duquesne University with a slated start time of 3:30 PM. For more information, please visit frostburgsports.com.