DEKALB, Ill. – Two first half goals helped West Virginia to a 2-0 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on Sunday afternoon (April 11) at the NIU Soccer Complex. Tony Pineda and Ike Swiger were on-target for the Mountaineers as they completed a sweep of the season series. 

"West Virginia is a good team, and they came in with the energy that was needed for a game like this," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We were kind of flat and didn't seem to be as excited about the game as they were. (West Virginia) had energy and quality all over the field. It was unusual, we were giving the ball away needlessly in important moments and we failed to test their 'keeper until about the 70th minute. It was a disappointing outing for us today."

NIU (5-7-1, 4-5-0 MAC) had the first shot of the contest in the fourth minute as sophomore Enrique Banuelos (Mexico City, Mexico/Virginia) was unable to direct his effort from a free kick on goal. 

Sophomore goalkeeper Martin Sanchez (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) was called into action for the first time in the 23rd minute, stopping a shot from Luke McCormick. 

Two minutes later, West Virginia went in front as Pineda finished off a combination with Jesus De Vicente and McCormick. McCormick played the ball wide to De Vicente whose low ball found Pineda in the box and Pineda tucked his shot just inside the post to give the Mountaineers a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute. 

West Virginia (6-3-0, 4-3-0 MAC) doubled its lead in the 39th minute when Josh DiMatteo whipped in a cross from the right side and Swiger took a couple of touches before smashing a shot inside the far post to double the lead for the Mountaineers. 

After the interval, West Virginia created the first chances of the second 45 as Sanchez stopped De Vicente in the 48th minute. 

Just before the hour mark, NIU had a trio of looks at goal, two were off-target and one was blocked as West Virginia continued to lead by a pair.  

The Huskies had an excellent chance to cut the West Virginia advantage in half in the 68th minute as Roque Viegas Jr. (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Syracuse) slipped a pass to freshman Diego Maynez (El Paso, Texas) who found himself with time just inside the penalty spot, but his shot was fired straight at Mountaineer goalkeeper Steven Tekesky who held it to deny the Huskies an opening goal. 

Nine minutes before fulltime, Sanchez made another good save on an attempt by Sam Morgan to keep the Huskies within a pair, but West Virginia preserved the shutout when Tekesky stopped junior Nick Markanich's (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais) chance in the 89th minute.

Sanchez finished with four saves for NIU, Tekesky registered a pair of stops for West Virginia. 

NIU will close the regular season next Sunday, April 18, when the Huskies travel to Bowling Green. Kickoff against the Falcons is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CT.