MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – No. 25 San Diego men's soccer scored three first-half goals to fuel a dominant 4-1 win over No. 23 West Virginia on Friday at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
 
Four different Toreros accounted for the quartet of goals for USD (8-1-1), as it picked up its first win over a ranked opponent since August 2015. Jimmy Ryan (17'), Freddy Polzer (33') and Miguel Berry (90') each added on top of their goal counts for the season while Alex Churness scored his first goal of the campaign in the 33rd minute.
 
The four goals for USD were its most in a game since September 2016 while the three in the first half marked the first time in five years that it had three in the first 45 minutes of a game.
 
In addition to the onslaught of goals, the Torero backline held the Mountaineers (6-3-1) to a season-low three shots, two of which were on goal. The lone tally for West Virginia came with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.
 
USD made use of its first four shots in the game, scoring its first three goals which were spurred by Ryan's header in the 17th minute. The junior received a perfect delivery by Chase Van Wey on the back post coming out of a corner kick entered in by Freddy Polzer.
 
Following the assist, Polzer scored his third goal of the year when he worked around a West Virginia defender inside the penalty area to finish short-side in the 33rd minute.
 
Polzer was subbed out following the goal, but his replacement, Churness, quickly broke the game open when he created a turnover on the subsequent kickoff and ran the length of the field to tap it around the West Virginia keeper and smash it home on the breakaway. The goal by Churness came 16 seconds after Polzer's.
 
West Virginia played far more aggressive in the latter stages of the second half, creating a goal on a header in the 80th minute, but the Toreros took advantage of the every-man-forward approach by the Mountaineers. Berry sealed it with 50 seconds remaining when he and Marmion moved two-versus-one down the field before Berry worked around the West Virginia keeper to score his eighth goal of the season.
 
The win also improved the Toreros to 4-0-0 on the road.
 
After 10 of its 11 nonconference games complete, USD now enters conference play when it faces WCC-foe San Francisco at home on October 12 at 7 p.m.
 
 
NOTES
Prior to Friday, the last time the Toreros had three first-half goals was November 7, 2014 vs. Santa Clara.
 
This is the first time since 2002 the Toreros have won eight out of their first 10 games in a season. In 2002, USD started 9-1-0.
 
The last time the Toreros scored four goals in a game was September 20, 2016 at UNLV.