MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The LIU Brooklyn men's soccer team saw their magical 2018 season come to a close Thursday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, as the Blackbirds fell to No.18 West Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 4-2. LIU senior Rasmus Hansen scored two goals in the first ten minutes of the game, giving LIU the lead for over 30 minutes, but the home team would triumph in the end. With the loss, the Blackbirds finish the year with a 13-6-1 overall record.
 
"It's been a remarkable season," head coach TJ Kostecky said after the game. "We had a nine game winning streak at one point. The university is going through some changes right now that we found out about in the middle of the season the season, and the guys stuck together and believed in each other. Often times we talk about family, how teams are families. Some are dysfunctional families, and some are healthy families; well, this was the healthiest family I've ever coached in 20 years."
 
The weather would prove to be a challenge for both teams, as a slushy, snowy mix made the field slippery, wet and cold, but the conditions didn't stop LIU from striking first. Hansen shocked the Mountaineers when the senior scored in the third minute of the game. Junior Giuseppe Barone had the ball on the right side of the WVU box, dribbled around a defender, and passed it off to senior Filip Nordström in the corner of the box. Nordström crossed the ball right in from of the net, and Hansen was there to knock it in and put LIU on the board, 1-0.  
 
Just five minutes later, the Blackbirds would stun the Mountaineers once again. Sophomore Fredrik Mathisen crossed the ball to a driving Barone down in the 18 near the end line. Barone would knock it back to the top of the box, where Mathisen one-touched it behind his back to a cutting Hansen at the top of the 18. Hansen rocketed a shot at the net, hitting the left goal post and knocking it in, putting LIU on top, 2-0.
 
But the home team would rally and get on the board just a few minutes later. West Virginia scored at the 15-minute mark, on a header off a corner kick. The Mountaineers would tie it up in the 34^th minute on a controversial play in which the Blackbirds thought a WVU player was offsides behind goalkeeper Sam Ilin, but the referees ruled he was not, and the score was knotted up, 2-2.
 
The Blackbirds would remain tied with the Mountaineers at the halftime break and into the second half, as neither team scored for over 30 minutes of game action. But WVU would score the go-ahead goal in the 73^rd minute off a corner kick to take the lead, 3-2. And the home team would add one more in the 80^th minute on a free kick, to make it 4-2.
 
"It was a challenging way to lose a game, to go up 2-0 and feel a little confident and then give up goals on corner kicks, which is something that we have not done this year," Kostecky said. "So it's a bit challenging to be sitting here and know we could have done better than that. But West Virginia fought really hard. I give them credit. At the end of the day, soccer is about individual battles; ultimately the team that wins most of those battles is going to come out ahead. And I think you saw that today, that's what happened on those corner kicks, they out-battled us and they won those balls."
 
With the loss, the 2018 Northeast Conference champions finish the season with a 13-6-1 overall record, while West Virginia improves to 14-6 overall, and advances to the second round where they will face off against Georgetown.