SALEM, Va. – A pair of second-half goals, coming just two and a half minutes apart, allowed the No. 13 Washington and Lee men's soccer team to move past Roanoke, 2-0, on Wednesday evening, extending its unbeaten streak to eight games.
Through more than 74 minutes of play, the Generals (7-1-1, 3-0-0 ODAC) and Maroons (2-4-2, 0-2-1 ODAC) remained scoreless, despite a wide gap in shot attempts favoring the Blue and White. In the 75th minute, W&L senior defender
Charley Colby (Prairie Village, Kan. / Shawnee Mission East) played a long pass up from midfield where first-year midfielder
Matteo Adler (Cobham, England / ACS Cobham International) trapped the ball just inside the 18.
Adler fired with his right foot, but had his attempt blocked by a defender. The ball did not go far, and Adler was able to corral the loose ball for another shot. Using his left foot this time, Adler let loose an attempt that deflected off the back of a defender and past the Roanoke keeper to give W&L the lead.
In the 77th minute, the Generals put another goal in the board, courtesy of sophomore midfielder
Weyimi Agbeyegbe (Atlanta, Ga. / Westminster). Agbeyegbe held the ball about 35 yards out and, with his back to the goal, passed back to senior midfielder
Michael Kutsanzira (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe / Putnam Science Academy (Conn.)). Kutsanzira took a touch up-field and passed off to the right to senior midfielder
Samuel Bass (Charlotte, N.C. / Myers Park). On his first touch, Bass found Agbeyegbe cutting to the goal and inside the six-yard box for a tap-in score to the top-right corner of the frame.
Agbeyegbe's goal was one of the last shots of the contest, as both teams mustered up just one more attempt over the final 13:01.
With his assist on Agbeyegbe's goal, Bass logged his 20th career assist, a feat that only three previous players in the history of the program had reached. Additionally, Bass's assist gives him 66 points in his career to tie him for 10th place on the program's all-time points list with Jim Fox '75. Bass is also now just the third player in program history to be ranked in the Top 10 in both career assists and points (Dylan Ritch '19, Tim Henry '66).
Agebeyegbe now has six goals this season, tying Kutsanzira for the team lead, while Adler's goal gives him his third score of the season, which is tied for third on the squad with Bass. First-year goalkeeper
Will Joseph (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier) (7-0-1) was credited with the clean sheet after the W&L defensive unit did not allow any of Roanoke's three shots to end up on goal.
For the Maroons, Liam Camilleri, Carter Laatsch and Girom Affolter took one shot each on offense. Senior keeper Zach Behe (2-4-2) took the loss in goal after making nine saves in 90 minutes of play.
The shot totals finished at 25-3 in favor of W&L, with a 13-1 mark in the first half and 12-2 in the second half. Corner kicks also favored the Blue and White, 7-3.
The Generals will return home for their next contest, a 1:00 pm kick-off against Hampden-Sydney.
