Charleston, W.Va. – The University of Charleston Golden Eagles defeated the Davis & Elkins Senators 6-1 to win the Mountain East Conference Tournament on Sunday.
The Basics
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 6-1 D&E
Records: UC 18-1-0 (13-1-0 MEC), D&E 9-7-4 (7-5-2 MEC)
How It Happened
In the second final of the day hosted at the Welch Athletic Complex, the hosts team Charleston comfortably defeated Davis & Elkins 6-1 to win the Mountain East Conference Tournament for the sixth season in a row.
The Golden Eagles came out of the blocks fast and opened the scoring with less than two minutes on the clock. A quick counter attack played in Stafford Dowling down the left hand side and he sent in an inch perfect cross for Jose Suarez Monaco to pounce on for his seventh goal of the season. The visiting Senators did however peg the hosts back when Shemar Daley was played in, and he rounded Marc Torrado before passing the ball into an empty net for the equalizer. The score remained level for merely a minute and a half though as Jose Suarez Monaco's right footed effort was blocked by a Senator, but the ball landed at the feet of Giorgos Diakos who made no mistake in placing it in the back of the net. With just under five minutes to go of the first half, Diakos doubled his tally as the keeper fumbled a Joseph Gasper cross straight into his path, and he stuck it into the top right corner with precision.
The teams went into half time with the scoreline reading 3-1, and the Golden Eagles having nine shots compared to the Senators five.
Jack Kay's eighth goal of the season opened the second half scoring as Gasper linked up with Diakos, who played the ball across the goalmouth to Kay to tap in three yards out. Isacco Tomelleri added a fifth on 63 minutes with a great effort from just outside the area. A cross was headed away into his path and he volleyed it first time into the bottom left corner, getting a slight deflection on the way through. Tristen Rose finished off the scoring in the 77th minute as he got his head on an out swinging Franco Tradatti free kick to make it 6-1, and that's how it finished. Davis & Elkins forward Modou Faye was also dismissed for two bookable offenses in the 79th minute, leaving the Senators to play with ten for the remainder of the game.
The Golden Eagles went on to lift their sixth MEC tournament title in six years, to add to winning and retaining the regular season trophy.
Up Next
The University of Charleston await to see their fate in the NCAA National Tournament on Monday evening in the NCAA Selection Show, where they will find out their ranking and their first/second round opponents.
