YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Young Harris College scored twice in a six-minute span midway through the second half to rally for a 2-1 victory in a quarterfinal match of the Peach Belt Conference Men's Soccer Tournament Tuesday (Oct. 30) afternoon at a frigid Frances Wood Wilson Soccer Field.
The Mountain Lions, who are seeded fourth in the eight-team tournament, improved to 14-4-1 as they advance to the semifinals Friday (Nov. 2) at 7:30 p.m. at Blanchard Woods Park in Evans, Ga. They will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between top seed Lander University and No. 8 seed University of South Carolina Aiken later today. No. 5 seed UNCP ended its season at 11-5-1.
UNCP took a 1-0 lead at the 27:20 mark when the Mountain Lions turned the ball over near midfield. Sean Hoek collected the ball and dribbled down the right sideline and then crossed it to Brett Luccia, who found the back of the net for the fourth time this season.
Young Harris, which avenged a 2-0 loss to the Braves Oct. 20 in Pembroke, N.C., tied the match at 1 when Niall McCabe scored his PBC-leading 15th goal of the season at the 62:50 mark. William Schonfeldt passed the ball into Andreas Pechmann from the right corner and Pechmann found McCabe, who knocked it in the left corner of the goal.
McCabe, who is second in the league with 10 assists, set up the deciding goal for the Mountain Lions, which outshot UNCP 16-5 in the second half, less than six minutes later when he collected a ball at the top of the box and found Khurram Shazad open on the left side and Shazad converted the opportunity for his fifth strike of 2012.
Wezley Barnard recorded four saves for the Mountain Lions in goal while Ryan Hanson had six for the Braves,
"This was a great result," said Young Harris head coach Mark McKeever. "UNCP put us under real pressure the first half and to be honest we really struggled to break them down. We changed things just a little in the second half and it opened the game up and allowed our quality players to get involved more. We had many opportunities in the second half to close the game out and score a third, but they defended well. The goal to win the game was one of the best we have scored this year and of course Niall McCabe was at the heart of it and the finish by Shazad was clinical following some great combinations."
