GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's soccer team closed out the non-conference season with a hard-fought 1-0 loss on the road at West Virginia Saturday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Stadium. The Spartans played the final 48:39 down a man after a red card was issued and held the Mountaineers off the board until the 84^th minute of play.

UNCG opens Southern Conference play Tuesday night at home when the Spartans welcome in Mercer to the UNCG Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. The Spartans enter league play with a 4-4-1 overall record in non-conference play but have been unlucky over the last couple of games with results. UNCG's four losses have all been by one goal with two of the losses coming in overtime this season.

The Spartans, playing their fourth game in nine days, played a season-high 23 players in the loss, using their bench thoroughly in the final tune-up before league play. UNCG had its best scoring chance of the first half in the 33^rd minute of play. Junior defender Quin Lema (Pembroke, Bermuda/Montverde Academy) found some space pushing up from his backline position and ripped a shot on goal that WVU goalkeeper Alex Boerner made a diving save on to keep the Spartans off the board.

UNCG fell down a man in the 42^nd minute of play as junior defender Hugo Coicaud (Le Havre, France/Saint-Joseph) was called for a foul outside the 18-yard box. Coicaud was deemed to be the last defender on the foul and was issued a red card sending him off as the Spartans played the rest of the game with just 10 players on the field.

Despite being down a man, the Spartans got stronger as the game went along and continued to generate chances against the Mountaineers. Freshman midfielder Leeroy Maguraushe (Milton Keynes, England/Stantonbury) came within inches of giving the Spartans the lead in the 80^th minute of play as his shot was saved by Boerner to keep the game scoreless.

West Virginia finally broke through with the man advantage in the 84^th minute of play. The Mountaineers sent a cross into the box where Tucker Stephenson was able to head it past senior goalkeeper Logan Rohde (Cary, N.C./Greensboro College) for the game's lone goal.

-UNCG-