West Virginia (3-1-1) dominated the second half against Denver, shutting them out 5-0. The Mountaineers and the Pioneers were scoreless at the break, but the Mountaineers exploded for five goals in the second half. West Virginia debuted its version of Coal Rush against Denver for Alumni Weekend. They did not disappoint en route to their third victory of the year. They are back in action on Thursday, September 17, against Georgia State at home beginning at 7 p.m. Read more: West Virginia coasts past Denver at home.
First Half
The first half featured missed chances and Mountaineer dominance with the ball. They took 10 shots in the first half and controlled possession throughout. Denver only managed one shot, while Alex Hohl saved both shots on target from the Mountaineers. The Pioneers had nine fouls in the first half, to WVU’s five, which helped WVU retain possession.
Related: No. 7 WVU Women’s Soccer shuts out Marshall in Mountain State Derby
It was certainly a tale of two halves, but there was some consistency from WVU. They had four corner kicks in the first, while tallying nine in the second. Denver did not have a single corner kick the entire match. Both teams were scoreless at halftime, but the floodgates opened in the final half.
Second Half
The second half was action-packed with five different goal scorers for the Mountaineers. Sammie Walker broke the deadlock in the 54th minute with an unassisted finish, and West Virginia never took the foot off the pedal. They had 16 shots in the second half, making 26 total in the match. Nine of those were on goal, which made 11 in the game.
Walker’s goal came on a corner kick. Denver headed the ball down towards the scrum in front of the goal, and Walker was in the right place at the right time. He just tapped the ball into the net for the first goal of the night.
Pablo Pozos scored twice in three minutes, with a Juan Alvarez goal sandwiched in between. Civan de Jesus Ferreira found Isaac Scheer near the endline to start the play. Scheer made a great pass behind him towards the goal to find Pozos, who put it past the keeper.
Pozos also set up the Alvarez goal, making himself a part of all the action. He found Alvarez with a chip pass at the top of the penalty area, and Alvarez did the rest for his first goal of the season. Pozos notched his first multi-goal game of the season with a goal in the 78th minute.
The pass 🤯
The goal 🤩 pic.twitter.com/G4uvCnedkX— WVU Men’s Soccer (@WVUMensSoccer) September 12, 2026
Brayden Macomber scored his first career goal in his first career appearance for WVU. He subbed in during the 79th minute and scored in the 86th minute to make it 5-0.
By the numbers
Pozos led the way for the Mountaineers with six shots and three on goal. He had two goals and two assists in 63 minutes of action. Alvarez had four shots with two on target in 44 minutes. Scheer added two assists in 52 minutes of action.
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