Men's Soccer VMIKeydets.com

Men?s Soccer Falls to Coastal Carolina in First Round of 2004 Big South Championship

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- Freshman midfielder Lachlan Cahill's goal in the 94th minute gave Coastal Carolina a hard-fought 1-0 victory over #7 VMI Friday afternoon in the first round of the 2004 Big South Men's Soccer Championship, hosted by Birmingham-Southern at the BSC Soccer Park.

Cahill's third goal of the season came six minutes after a red card was issued to VMI junior forward Parker Thurman. Forced to play a man down from the 87th minute on, the Keydets (10-9-1, 2-4-1 Big South) fought off a number of chances, but could not stop a shot from 20 yards out from the left side by Cahill.

Coastal (12-7-1, 4-3 Big South) fired off 18 shots in the contest, including 12 in the second half, however only five of those were on target. VMI got off only four shots in the contest, one in the second period, with only one of those shots on goal.

“We were really excited to come out and show that we can play against one of the best teams in conference,” said VMI head coach Stephen Ross. “We came out and did a great job on three of the best players in the league, Rory Page, Kyle Clark, Austin Williams and Logan Manning all stepped up as seniors and did a tremendous job dealing with a lot of talent and a lot of speed. It's a disappointing way to end the season. I take my hat off to our group of seniors, I have so much respect for their effort that they put forth. We played well today, but unfortunately, couldn't get the win.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Thomas Upton (Richmond, Va./Mills Godwin) made four saves in the contest, compared to one for Coastal keeper Aaron Weant. Coastal took five corner kicks to VMI's one, while VMI was called for 21 fouls to Coastal's 14.

The loss comes three weeks after the first meeting between the two teams. On Oct. 23, Coastal scored a 5-0 decision in Lexington, handing the Keydets their worst loss of the season.

VMI concludes their record-breaking season with 10 wins, the most in school history. Numerous other school records have fallen as well, including most goals in a season (44), most shutouts in a season (five), while Upton established a new mark with a 1.51 GAA on the year.

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