University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Men's Soccer Falls to Coastal Carolina 2-1
10.31.2009 | Men's Soccer
Coastal Carolina got goals from Matt Schroeder in the 14th minute and Ross Kelly in the 26th minute to take a 2-0 lead before the match was 30 minutes old. Djamel Bekka had an assist on each goal.
Asheville (6-9-2, 2-4-1 BSC) battled back and got on the scoreboard in the 53rd minute on a goal from Scott Himelein.
But the Chanticleer defense would only allow the Bulldogs one more shot in the match as the visitors won their third straight match. CCU (6-2-6, 3-0-3 BSC) out-shot the Bulldogs on the day, 8-5.
"You can't just play for 45 minutes or so against a team the caliber of Coastal Carolina and expect to win," stated Asheville coach Steve Cornish. "We did a nice battling back in the second half with our young squad. But they (Coastal Carolina) knew how to shut us down in the final minutes. We're a very young squad and at times it shows."
The first goal came off a free kick. Bekka sent a free kick from 12 yards out that Schroeder tapped in for a goal and a 1-0 CCU lead at 14:10.
The second goal came at 26:36. Schroeder received a nice pass from Bekka. He then slipped a pass to reserve Ross Kelly who scored on a five-yard blast to push the lead to 2-0. It was Kelly's first goal of the season.
The Bulldogs finally showed some life late in the first half and got two quick shots on goal in the final three minutes. It continued at the start of the second half as Zachary Odum just missed on a header three minutes into the half.
Finally Asheville got on the board. Jake Sides sent a pass into the goal area that Himelein was able to get his foot on and put into the back of the net to cut the lead to 2-1. It was the freshman defender's second goal of the season. Connor Holzinger also earned an assist on the play.
But Coastal Carolina's defense stiffened after that goal. The Bulldogs had just one shot the rest of the match. Asheville's defense limited CCU to just two shots on goal.
UNC Asheville plays next at Appalachian State on Nov. 3 and finishes the regular season with a match vs. Liberty at home on Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. Coastal Carolina journeys to Winthrop on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. league match.
