Radford, Va. - The VMI men's soccer team's 2003 season came to an end Thursday afternoon after getting knocked out of the first round of the Big South Conference Tournament by Coastal Carolina, 3-0, in Radford, Va.

The Chanticleers (16-2-0, 6-1-0 Big South) took advantage of incredibly windy playing conditions as they scored all three of their goals with the wind, estimated at 50 MPH, to their backs in the first-half.

CCU got on the board with a little over 16-minutes into the contest when freshman Bobby Zimmer connected on a goal unassisted, making the score 1-0.

Twenty minutes later sophomore Ryan Johnson followed up a rebounded shot by junior Itayi Pondwa and slammed it by Keydet goalkeeper Brian Douglas (Virginia Beach, Va./ Catholic) to put the Chanticleers up 2-0.

As the final seconds of the first-half ran down, CCU put VMI (4-14-0,0-7-0 Big South) behind 3-0 when Big South Player of the Year Joseph Ngwenya's 25-yard kick got caught up in the wind and found the back of the net.

Douglas was credited with seven saves in the contest, but that number does not describe how outstanding his play was. CCU routinely fired away at the senior netkeeper all game, but Douglas fought off the tremendously strong winds to make a number of acrobatic saves and stops.

The Keydets entered the tournament as an eighth seed while the Chanticleers, ranked ninth in the country, were a one-seed.

CCU will face No. 4 seeded Winthrop on Friday. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team ## Goal Scorer Assists
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1. 16:21 COASTAL 5 ZIMMER, Bobby Unassisted
2. 36:35 COASTAL 20 JOHNSON, Ryan 11 PONDWA, Itayi
3. 44:42 COASTAL 18 NGWENYA, Joseph Unassisted


-VMI-