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Men's Soccer Clinches Bid To Sun Belt Tournament Despite Tough Loss To #7 West Virginia Tuesday

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Stephen Blue/Sideline Media

Karan Mandair scored his fifth penalty kick goal of the season against WVU

MORGANTOWN, W. VA. – Karan Mandair recorded his fifth penalty kick goal of the season at 84:05, but seventh-ranked West Virginia got a penalty kick goal from Yutaro Tsukada with 33 seconds as the Mountaineers defeated Old Dominion 2-1 in Sun Belt Men's Soccer action Tuesday night.
 
ODU (5-6-5, 2-6-1) will finish the regular season in eighth place and qualify for the 2023 Sun Belt Conference Tournament. A pair of 1-0 wins by Kentucky over Georgia Southern and Georgia State over Coastal Carolina clinched the eighth seed in the tournament for the Monarchs.
 
Their first-round tournament match will be in Huntington, West Virginia on Sunday afternoon as they face top-seed and fourth-ranked Marshall at 3 p.m.
 
West Virginia (12-1-4) got the opening tally at 37:33 as Carlos Hernando scored off feeds from Max Broughton and Ryan Crooks for the early 1-0 advantage.
 
ODU drew a foul in the penalty box and Mandair stepped in for his team-tying fifth goal of the year, all of which on penalty kicks as he blasted one into the upper right corner for the equalizer at 84:05.
 
The Mountaineers forced the action late and was able to draw a penalty kick chance as Tsukada put the winner in at 89:27.
 
On the night, West Virginia held a 13-5 advantage in shots.