CONWAY, S.C. – The Coastal Carolina men's soccer team held on to secure a 1-0 victory over the USC Upstate Spartans at the CCU Soccer Stadium on Friday night.
The win advanced the Chants to 2-1 on the year and dropped the Spartans to 1-2.
It was an even matchup in the opening frame with both teams taking five shots and the Chants leading 3-1 in saves.
CCU put the pressure on from the starting whistle, taking three shots in the opening 10 minutes but none could find their way to the back of the net.
The Spartans' Jeremy Montero flipped the momentum in the 27th minute taking USC Upstate's first shot of the night, which forced a save from CCU's keeper Kilian Vallant to hold the score at 0-0.
USC Upstate kept its foot on the gas taking three more shots in the following five minutes while denying the Chants of a single scoring opportunity.
With one minute left to play in the first half, transfer senior Deryn Armstrong drove down the left sideline and whipped in a cross to the back post where Evan Howard was able to head the ball into the side netting to give the Chants a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans were first to strike in the second half when Jimmy James fired a shot in the opening minute but caused no threat to the CCU defense.
The Chants answered back in the 50th minute after a blocked shot by Asgeir Magnusson gave CCU its first corner of the evening. Loed Klaasen then looped the ball to the front post from the corner spot to meet the head of Simon Wittmann, who nailed the crossbar. The ball then ricocheted out to the six-yard box allowing Ewan Gordon and Howard to take shots that were blocked away by USC Upstate bodies. The ball fell out one more time for Gordon but the Spartans' keeper was able to make a close-range save to dismiss the danger.
The Spartans rallied with some threatening chances of their own when Braiden Hall rattled the crossbar with a long-range attempt in the 52nd minute. USC Upstate's Hall and Carson Hicktok took back-to-back shots in the 62nd minute but both were dealt with swiftly by Vallant to hold on to CCU's 1-0 lead.
USC Upstate outshot the Chants 6-5 in the remainder of the match but were unable to net the equalizing goal, allowing Coastal secure the 1-0 victory.
"I was really pleased with the effort from our young group tonight! I thought we had some very good spells of good attacking soccer and continue to be a work in progress with such a young group this year!" stated head coach Shaun Docking. "I thought USC Upstate was very good tonight, too, and it was definitely a hard-fought win for us! Great to see our young guys continue to improve, and we look forward to playing a very good College of Charleston team on Tuesday!"
The Chanticleers will be back in action on Sept. 5 when they take on the College of Charleston Cougars in their first away contest of the year. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET.
For complete coverage of CCU men's soccer, follow the Chants on social media at @CoastalMSoccer (Twitter), Facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
