CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's soccer team fell to the No. 4-seeded and No. 15 nationally-ranked Kentucky Wildcats 3-1 on Wednesday night at Transamerica Field in the first round of the 2021 C-USA Men's Soccer Championship.
With the loss, the Chanticleers finish the 2021 season with an overall record of 6-5-4, while the Wildcats improve to 12-1-4 overall and advance to the C-USA Semifinals on Friday.
"I was very proud of how hard the guys worked tonight," head coach
Shaun Docking said. "Especially in the second half where we had some great chances to tie the game at 2-2. Unfortunately, we took two set-piece goals early in the first half, and against a great team like No. 15 Kentucky it's very hard to come back from being down 2-0."
"I'm very proud of this young group" Docking continued. "The future looks very, very bright and it will definitely help us get better for next year."
Kentucky got off to an aggressive start, scoring in the second minute as Lucca Rodrigues headed in a cross from Mason Visconti to give UK a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats found the back of the net for the second time in the first half, as Lucis Grassow connected on a corner kick giving Kentucky a 2-0 lead in the 24th minute.
CCU tallied its lone goal of the match 22 minutes into the second half as
Alvaro Garcia-Pasqual converted his sixth goal of the season in traffic in the 67th minute. The Chanticleers were awarded a corner kick which
Ethan Hackenberg sent in and
Marcelo Lage's shot was blocked but Garcia-Pasqual fired in the rebound cutting Kentucky's lead in half.
The Wildcats recorded their final goal in the 87th minute as Eythor Bjorgolfsson dribbled downfield and found his way around
Leon Schmidt.
Kentucky finished the night with a 14-10 shooting advantage and a 7-2 edge in shots on goal. Garcia-Pasqual lead the Chanticleers with three shots, with one on goal, while Lage tallied two shots (one on goal). CCU found the advantage in saves as Schmidt recorded four between the posts.
For complete coverage of CCU men's soccer, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalMSoccer (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com
