West Virginia men’s soccer denied of a chance to win MAC conference on final day of league play
MORGANTOWN, W.Va (BVM) — In head coach Dan Stratford’s first year in charge of the West Virginia men’s soccer program expectations were high as the Mountaineers looked to compete in a competitive, but winnable Mid-American Conference. The Englishmen spoke highly of the potential for not only the current crop of players, but also the long term goals he had for the team.
Winning your conference in a year with so many questions would have provided an assurance that the type of culture Stratford talked about throughout his brief tenure in Morgantown was beginning to change into the type of environment echoed by perennial powerhouses. West Virginia had a chance to win the MAC after going 4-3-1 in conference play before the scheduled game against Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville was canceled for health reasons. The conference announced Friday morning that the match would be canceled and not rescheduled, effectively ending WVU’s season and their hopes of winning a conference title along with it.
The statement from the MAC explained that the game was, “canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the SIUE men’s soccer program,” and the game would be “determined a no-contest and will not be rescheduled.”
However, shortly after the announcement, Stratford went on Friday’s MetroNews Citynet Statewide Sportsline to say that the game was canceled for a completely different reason.
“It is injury-related. I can’t say they are full strength but who is this time of the season? I can tell you, hand on heart, they don’t have a single COVID issue, or certainly a COVID issue since their last game nine days ago against Northern Illinois,” the first year head coach said.
As for the real reason the Cougars apparently backed out of Sunday’s season finale Stratford was forthright with his answer saying, “What is disappointing is that it didn’t mean a great deal for SIUE as a team. They’re currently in last place. I will go a step further, my honest opinion is that if SIUE did have something to play for this weekend, they would be traveling to Morgantown and this game would be taking place… This is infuriating.”
The results on Sunday ended up not mattering as Bowling Green clinched the conference with an overtime winner against Northern Illinois so West Virginia’s result would have been irrelevant, but frustration remains as the Mountaineers feel a bit cheated that they did not have a chance to win the conference on their own merit. While there is every reason to possess a good deal of short term anger, there is also the pressing concern of the long term problems Sunday’s cancelation creates for West Virginia.
Questions remain as to how the Mountaineer’s resume stacks up with the other at–large contenders in high major conferences like the ACC and PAC-12 now that the regular season schedule is finished and there is no conference tournament this year. Moreover, this season’s NCAA Tournament has been truncated from 48 teams to 36, leaving just 12 at–large spots. Stratford is optimistic some high quality wins earlier in the season will propel West Virginia into the field.
“We go into Monday for the selection show stuck at 6-3-1 without the potential extra win, without perhaps the security of the AQ [automatic qualifier] if we had won the conference on Sunday,” the coach said. “We are obviously crossing our fingers that our body of work to this point, the quality of our non-conference wins with Charlotte and Marshall both being ranked in the top twelve in the country, will be enough to get us over the line.”
The Mountaineers will surely be sweating it out until Monday’s selection show as they were denied the opportunity to improve their record and potentially grab the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the MAC. Regardless of whether or not West Virginia is granted an at–large bid Dan Stratford’s first year in the gold and blue has to be considered a success even if it ends with a sour taste left in the team’s mouth.
