WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Coastal Carolina University men's soccer season came to an end Sunday night in a 3-2 loss at No. 5 Wake Forest at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.
 
The match was as close as the score, but a couple of defensive mistakes led to the Chanticleers' loss. Omar Hernandez scored two goals for Wake Forest (12-2-2), including what turned out to be the match-winner in the 48th minute on an assist from Kyle Holcomb.
 
The Chants (9-5-2) did not go down easy. After trailing 2-0 at halftime, Kasper Skraep got the Chants on the scoreboard 90 seconds into the second half to cut Wake's lead in half at 2-1.
 
After Hernandez's second goal of the match in the 48th minute, the Chants once again came back and cut the lead to one at 3-2 when Claudio Repetto scored an unassisted goal with eight minutes left in the match. From there, the Chants had a couple of chances but could not score the goal that would have evened the score.
 
CCU finished the match with 13 shots while Wake had 10 and both teams having four shots on goal. Wake led in corner kicks 6-4 and both goalies had two saves.
 
"I was really proud of how our guys responded after being down 2-0," head coach Shaun Docking said. "One of the main takeaways from this evening's game is you have to take your chances and they did a good job of that. When you out-shoot your opponent you need to take your chances. Credit to Wake Forest for doing that tonight."
 
"I am very disappointed in the result tonight but I thought our guys responded much better in the second half and I thought we deserved to get that third goal in the second half and go on to win the game. I felt the momentum had shifted in our favor and we were the better team in the second half."

Wake carried a 2-0 lead into the locker room at halftime after controlling possession of the ball for most of the opening 45 minutes.
 
CCU had an excellent chance to score early off a set corner kick, but Marcelo Lage's kick off the back post just missed wide.
 
Neither team could find the back of the net until Hernandez scored off a double assist from Jahlane Forbes and Takuma Suziki in the 15th minute to put the Deacs up 1-0.
 
Wake took advantage of a Coastal error in minute 23 as the home team was credited with a goal after an own goal from the CCU backline.
 
Wake finished the opening 45 minutes with five shots and five corner kicks compared to three shots and corner kicks from Coastal.

 
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.