EVANS, Ga. | Young Harris College scored four of the first five goals as the Mountain Lions defeated the University of North Georgia 4-3 Friday (Nov. .4) afternoon in a semifinal match of the Peach Belt Conference Men's Soccer Tournament being played at Blanchard Woods Park.

The No. 3-seed Mountain Lions won their sixth consecutive match as they improved to 11-6-0. Young Harris, the two-time defending PBC Tournament champions will play in their third consecutive title contest when they face top seed Lander University, which defeated Flagler College 3-0 in the earlier semifinal, at 1 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 6).
 

Young Harris jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two goals in a five-minute span late in the first half. Ramin Varnhorn opened the scoring after heading home a shot that had bounced off the crossbar at the 30:47 mark for his eighth goal of the campaign.  Sam Jones put in his first goal at the 35:10 mark as he headed home a loose ball.

The Mountain Lions added another goal 10 minutes into the second half as Marco Micaletto finished a give-and-go from Mehdy Hidane with a 25-yard laser beam.It was his sixth goal of 2016.  North Georgia scored in the 62nd minute as Matt Shaftoe scored his ninth goal of the year, finishing a combination of passes from Eddie Hurst and Ivan Acimovic.

Young Harris answered 38 seconds later as Carlos Gomez finished off a rebound of Anthony Tshimpi's shot to keep the lead at three (4-1). It was Gomez's team-leading 12th strike of the season.

William Pettersson and Eddie Hurst scored goals to pull the Nighthawks within 4-3 with 6:40 to play.  It was Pettersson's second goal of the year and the eighth for Hurst.

YHC held advantages in shots (18-14) and corner kicks (8-2). Sebastian Thomsson has three saves in goal for the Mountain Lions while Conner Domaleski had two for North Georgia.