The No. 18 Washington University men’s soccer team has made a habit of scoring early, netting 13 of their 16 goals in the first half.

The Bears followed that same formula on Friday when a crossing shot from senior Jack West found the back of the net in the 12th minute, lifting the Red and Green to a 1-0 victory over Illinois Wesleyan University.  

To put himself in scoring position, West intercepted a crossing Titan pass and pitched it to junior Corey Meehan who dribbled down the middle. Freshman Ryan Sproule sprinted right post, taking a pair of defenders with him, while Meehan sent a through ball to the right side of the net which West caught up to and buried in the far corner of the goal.

“Ryan is a big physical presence up top, so he concerns the defense a lot,” West said. “So what he’ll do is occupy the defense a lot which will grant me space to run into. That’s exactly what happened on our goal.”

With the early goal, the Bears were able to draw out the game with and focus on maintaining possession of the ball.

“We scored about 11 minutes into the game so it kind of settled everyone’s nerves,” West said. “It [allowed] us to play our possession-based game and just keep the ball for as long as we can.”

“The strongest part of our defense is trying to keep possession of the ball,” head coach Joe Clarke said.

The conservative game plan seemed to work as the Bears still outshot the Titans 20-11.

Junior goalkeepers Daniel Geanon and Nick Tannenbaum tallied three and two saves respectively as the defense pitched its third shutout of the season. The Bears have extended their unbeaten streak to six games and improve to 5-1-2 on the season. After three games on the road they get to return home for a Tuesday clash against Webster University.