Charleston, W.Va. - The University of Charleston Golden Eagles welcomed Concord to the Welch Athletic Complex this past Sunday for the second round of the NCAA National Championship.
The Basics:
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 1, Concord 0
Records: UC 19-1-1 (13-1-0 MEC), Concord 15-4-2 (11-1-2 MEC)
How it Happened:
This would be the fourth time the two sides would meet this season, with Charleston winning two of the previous three and Concord winning one. This contest was always going to be a tense affair, after the Mountain Lions went all the way to penalties 48 hours prior. The Golden Eagles best chance of the half fell to Michail Tselios after he was played in, but Concord's Nathan Scargill was there to smother the shot. Overall, Scargill was called into action four times in the first half, whilst Konstantinos Parisis had two saves to make in the UC goal.
Into the second half and Concord still hadn't tired going into their 160+ minutes in three days. They made life difficult for the hosts, defending well and making Charleston wait for their opportunity. That finally came in the 86th minute as Jose Suarez Monaco was released into the right hand side of the penalty area, and Scargill tipped away his cross into the path of Tselios. Tselios tried to place his effort into the bottom left corner but it was cleared off the line by a Mountain Lions defender, and as it fell back to him, he was wiped out by a scrambling Scargill, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Joao Belmudes stepped up with the pressure mounting and smashed it into the top right corner. He sprinted over to celebrate with his head coach Dan Smee and the rest of the Golden Eagles bench. Stafford Dowling then seemed to be brought down a couple of minutes later but the referee waved this one away. The team held out for a 1-0 victory and condemned Concord to their first scoreless game of soccer this season.
Up Next:
The Golden Eagles now progress into the sweet sixteen where they will host reigning Nation Champions Franklin Pierce next Sunday, with kick off scheduled for 3pm.
