Ohio State men’s soccer head coach Brian Maisonneuve watches the Buckeyes play in the first half of the game against the University of South Florida on Sept. 7, 2018. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Managing Editor for Multimedia

Breaking the team’s 0-for-47 string to start the season, junior midfielder Mitch Bergman converted a corner kick into a goal for the first time this year for Ohio State.

That proved to be the lone highlight for Ohio State (5-3) in a 4-1 loss to West Virginia (4-2-1) Tuesday night at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. It marks its second straight loss immediately following a five-game win streak.

“They were playing really direct and the pressure got to us,” junior defender Joe Ortiz said. “We did not have as many outlets as we thought we were going to have. We are a team that likes to play out of the back but could not tonight.”

For a moment, Bergman’s goal appeared to give the Buckeyes momentum as it knotted the game at 1-1.

However, just two minutes later a West Virginia corner kick bounced off Ohio State redshirt junior defender Samuel Buzzas and into the net for an own goal to make it 2-1.

The mountaineers didn’t look back.

In the 57th minute, West Virginia stole the ball at midfield and quickly sped past Buckeye defenders to set up senior midfielder Andres Muriel Abino’s second goal of the night.

West Virginia’s offense struck again in the 62nd minute, pushing the lead to a near-insurmountable 3-1. Freshman midfielder Luke Mccormick scored the goal.

“We were very reactive tonight. They dribbled around us several times,” head coach Brian Maissoneuve said. “A lot of those goals came over turnovers. We gave away passes in the back.”  

Ohio State senior goalkeeper Parker Siegfried was whistled for a penalty in the box at the 18-minute mark after a collision with Mountaineer sophomore forward Tony Pineda. The foul set up Muriel Albino’s first goal on a penalty kick to put West Virginia on the board.

“Samuel and Mitchell have been playing well, but you miss any time you lose someone like CC, he’s the senior leader in the back,” Head coach Maisonneuve said.  

Ohio State will look to bounce back Friday at Northwestern. Kickoff is at 8 p.m.