Friday, June 8, 2012
BECKLEY, W.Va. -- It took the Southern West Virginia King's Warriors six games, but the first-year team tasted victory for the first time on Friday night with a 2-0 victory against the Virginia Beach Piranhas at the Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex.
Erik Mozzo made two saves to notch his second shutout of the season, and Tony Stock and Nago Mbengue scored goals in the victory. The goals were the first the King's Warriors (1-4-1) have scored since opening night on May 11 when Southern West Virginia tallied once.
The King's Warriors have been knocking on the door the past three weeks as they sought their first win, and Friday night the door opened.
"Elation," Southern West Virginia coach Scott Reitnour said. "I tend not be that emotional but I know that the boys were elated. I just felt really proud of them and just happy and joyful for them because they've worked so hard for it."
The win allowed the King's Warriors to escape last place and move up to eighth place in the PDL's South Atlantic Division. The Piranhas (1-4-1) fell into the cellar in the division. Although they are tied with Southern West Virginia in points with four, the King's Warriors hold the temporary advantage having won the first match in head-to-head play with Virginia Beach.
"It was a long time in coming," Mozzo said. "Coach put it earlier that we've generally been progressing, and in the locker room he said there's no reason why we shouldn't win tonight."
After a scoreless first half, Southern West Virginia finally broke its long scoring drought that had reached 360 minutes (four complete games) heading into Friday's contest. In the 66th minute Mbengue, who came off the bench to start the second half, scored his first goal of the season for a 1-0 lead.
Southern West Virginia then doubled their lead just two minutes later. Stock described his first goal of the campaign that allowed the King's Warriors to assume a 2-0 advantage.
"It all started with the defense as they played a long ball down the line," he said. "Nago [Mbengue] played it to Nana [Mensah] in the middle, and I basically screamed for the ball, beat a defender and put it in."
Mbengue was dangerous all evening playing on the wing, and had several opportunities to go one-on-one with defenders, something that he does well.
"It wasn't in the game plan for me to play on the wing," said Mbengue. "Coach planned on playing me as he target, but as the game went on he felt I would be more effective on the wing where I could go one-on-one more with Virginia Beach's defenders. He asked me if I was up for the challenge and I told him 'yeah.' "
The King's Warriors will try to build a winning streak as they will embark on a two-game roadtrip beginning with a game next Friday against their fellow PDL-expansion team members, Palmetto FC in Greenwood, South Carolina. The following night, Saturday, June 16, Southern Virginia will be in Greensboro, North Carolina to face the Carolina Dynamo at 7:30 p.m.
The King's Warriors will return to Beckley for their next home game on Tuesday, June 19 to battle their in-state rivals, the West Virginia Chaos at the Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex at 7 p.m. The June 19 match-up will be the second meeting this season in the "West Virginia Coal Cup Clash" sponsored by Little General Stores.
The gates will open at 6 p.m. at the Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex. Tickets are available in advance, which includes a discount, by calling the King's Warriors at (304) 466-9080. Tickets are also available at the gate at regular game-day prices.