Tuesday, July 10, 2012
BECKLEY, W.Va. -- The Southern West Virginia King's Warriors were hoping to end the season on a winning note in their final game of their inaugural season at home Tuesday night against the Carolina Dynamo. But it was not to be as the King's Warriors fell to the Dynamo 3-1 to end their first season in the PDL at 4-10-2.
After Carolina took a 1-0 lead through Hakan Ilhan's 15th-minute goal, Southern West Virginia tied the game at 1-1 with 12 minutes to go. Jason Keever's perfect corner kick found the head of Carter Robbins, who scored his third goal of the season to get the King's Warriors back into the match.
But the first-place Dynamo (11-1-3) quickly showed their superiority by scoring twice in a three-minute span to put the game away. Carolina's second goal was scored by Danny Lovitz on a play the King's Warriors thought was offside. But the assistant referee kept the flag down and Lovitz's shot bounced off the underside of the crossbar and into the net for a 2-1 Dynamo lead with six minutes left in the contest.
Mamadee Nyepon scored an insurance goal for Carolina with three minutes left off an assist from Tom McCready.
The Dynamo scored first in the 15th minute as two Carolina forwards got behind the King's Warriors defense. Karo Okiomah volleyed the ball to Ilhan while the Southern West Virginia defenders were scrambling to get back into the play. Ilhan's shot went just over the outstretched arms of King's Warriors keeper Erik Mozzo and into the goal.
King's Warriors coach Scott Reitnour reflected on Southern West Virginia's first season in the USL.
"I feel like we performed in line with my expectations," he said. "If we had enjoyed a bit more success in some of our tighter matches with the one-goal losses, I think we could have been more optimistic here at the end.
"Off of the field I look at what the guys were able to do in the Hinton community and the Beckley area. I look at what they were able to do with forging relationships with each other that will last a lifetime, and I feel the stuff off the field was unbelievable.
"We're definitely looking forward to next year. There are a couple of things that we've got to make sure that we attend to, but I'm optimistic about this team moving forward and continuing to build one year at a time."