Sixth-Seeded Winthrop Wins 2012 Big South Men Soccer Title
Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C. - No. 6 Winthrop put in three second-half goals to upset No. 1 Coastal Carolina in the Championship match of the 2012 Big South Men's Soccer Championship Sunday at Bryan Park in Greensboro, N.C. The win secured Winthrop's second League crown since 2009 and its fifth overall Big South Championship.
With the win, the Eagles receive the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship.
With the score knotted at 2-2 in the 88th minute, Winthrop's Mason Lavallett one timed an Alex Isern cross to lift the Eagles to the 3-2 win. The goal was his seventh marker of the season.
Ashton Bennett gave No. 8 ranked Coastal Carolina the 1-0 lead in the 17th minute as he buried a rebound into the back of the net. Pedro Ribero was credited with the assist.
Coastal Carolina pushed its lead to 2-0 in the 25th minute. Uchenna Uzo put in a rebound off a corner kick from 10 yards out. Bennett fired the first shot to pick +up the assist.
Magnus Thorsson got the Winthrop offense rolling in the second half as he headed in a Josh Mort assist in the 54th minute to cut the lead to 2-1.
Winthrop drew level in the 86th minute on Patrick Barnes' second goal of the season. Adam Brundle got the play going as he found Barnes 10 yards out.
Coastal Carolina finished the contest with 16 shots, to Winthrop's eight. Enrique Miranda turned away six Chanticleer attacks, while Federico Bertele posted one save for Coastal.
Winthrop improves to 12-8-1 on the season, while Coastal Carolina falls to 18-2-2.
QUOTES
Winthrop Head Coach Rick Posipanko
"I'm really proud of the effort these guys gave today and did they did a great job fighting back. Coastal is a great team and very difficult to play against but even going down 2-0 this group continued to play hard and believed in themselves to come back. It was another great game against Coastal, which is always the case."
Coastal Carolina Head Coach Shaun Docking
"Winthrop played extremely well and they deserve the win. They put together a great second half and wanted it more than we did. Overall they did a fantastic job."
All-Tournament Team
Alex Isern, Winthrop (MVP)
Enrique Miranda, Winthrop
Magnus Thorsson, Winthrop
Jordi Lluch, Winthrop
Justin Portillo, Coastal Carolina
Uchenna Uzo, Coastal Carolina
Ashton Bennett, Coastal Carolina
James Jordan, Radford
Ryan Taylor, Radford
Kody Palmer, High Point
Mamadee Nyepon, High Point
Tyler Beadle, Presbyterian College
Satoshi Tatsumi, Gardner-Webb
Mitchell Cardenas, Campbell
Greg White, Liberty