MSU tops Tech on college pitch

By Dan Stillwell
Register-Herald Sports Writer

Mountain State University soccer coach John Birkelbach says Charlot Nacius isn’t really a striker.

Opponents might disagree.

The lanky freshman from Delray Beach, FL, scored two goals to lead the Cougars to a 4-0 victory over WVU Tech Saturday at the YMCA Sports Complex.

“Charlot is an outside back, but I’ve got to use him up front,” Birkelbach said. “He notched his 10th goal today and congrats to him.”

Mountain State (3-10) lost its top scoring threat, freshman Keith Allison, to an ACL tear several weeks ago at Southern Virginia.

Allison will miss the remainder of the season. Fortunately, Nacius has performed well in his place.

“Last year at Bluefield College, both of my strikers had 10 goals,” Birkelbach said. “Charlot has done that in five games.”

Nacius not only scored twice, but made the assists on the other two goals. He found Max Bendig with a nice cross in the 28th minute, then passed to Anthony Collins for an easy shot in the 34th minute.

Collins returned the favor to Nacius midway through the second half. The final goal was unassisted as Nacius picked up a loose ball in the left side of the box and drilled it past Tech keeper Chris Burton.

Scoring hasn’t been easy for the Cougars, who are in their first-ever season of soccer. None of the players had played together before the summer.

“It’s been tough,” Nacius said. “But when we got used to each other, we started passing the ball much better.”

Mountain State dominated play, outshooting the Golden Bears 19-10. Fifteen of the Cougars’ shots were on goal compared to five for Tech (1-10).

Two weeks ago MSU had beaten Tech 8-1.

“Today they came out with a fire they didn’t have last time and made it a little more difficult for us,” Birkelbach said.

“I had talked to the team about how we had to improve our performance,” Tech coach Alberto Poxes said. “We had a different mindset this time.

“We just started (the program) this season and some of our players have never played competitive ball. But they work hard and they don’t give up.”

Birkelbach said the Cougars are adjusting to the more physical style of college soccer.

“They’re playing men now, not boys, and it makes a huge difference,” he said. “You’re going to get kicked and you’re going to get shoved. You let the ball bounce on a goalkeeper’s punt and you’re going to be punished for it. They’re starting to realize that.”

The 4-0 decision was the first shutout of the year for MSU’s defense.

“That’s been our goal for a few games now,” Birkelbach said. “I put an emphasis on that and we didn’t relax until the final whistle was blown.”

MSU returns to action next Saturday night at home against Southern Virginia.