CONWAY, S.C. - For the second straight game, VMI fell behind its opponent by three goals, then rallied back only to come up a little short. This time, it happened as the Keydets played the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers as part of their Homecoming celebration in Conway, S.C. Four different Chanticleers netted goals as they held on for a 4-2 win over VMI.

"It's disappointing because I think we played pretty well and did a lot of good things," said VMI head coach Stephen Ross. "I was very pleased with a number of different things we did, but we just had some mental mistakes and lapses around the goal on both ends and it cost us today."

After nearly 30 minutes of scoreless play in the first half, the Chanticleers (7-8-1, 4-2 Big South) took advantage of a scoring opportunity as Patrick Robertson finished off a header in front of the net by Peter Louis for the first score of the game. The Chants kept the air attach rolling as Dominic Rossi headed in a feed from the left side from teammate Daniel O'Brien in the 53rd minute giving them the 2-0 lead.

After Coastal's Joseph Kabwe put the Chants up 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining, the Keydets were now in the exact same spot they were a few days ago against Liberty. And yet again, the Keydets (7-8-1, 1-5 Big South) responded, and responded quickly.

Less then a minute later, VMI sophomore midfielder Josh Hanna once again took things into his own hands, as he did against UNC Asheville earlier this year in the Keydets first conference victory, as he split a pair of defenders and fired off a rocket at Coastal goalkeeper Aaron Weant. The ball deflected off Weant's chest and Hanna was there to put in the rebound for the goal, cutting the lead to 3-1.

A few minutes later, however, Coastal responded when their senior team-leader Jordie Hughes capitalized off a free kick to up Coastal's lead to 4-1. The Keydets kept fighting for the remainder of the game though, and Wythe Horbal knocked in a deflected ball in front of the net to round out the scoring. The goal was Horbal's sixth of the season, a team-high.

"The effort was tremendous from a number of our players today," said Ross. "There's not going to be any quit in any of these guys, there's too much pride, and too much instilled in them on a daily basis. Of course they will see some frustration, but they're tough, they'll rebound and I know they won't ever quit."

Keydet goalkeeper Thomas Upton returned to the net today for the Keydets, his first full game of action in six contests. Upton grabbed three saves and batted away a few more Coastal scoring opportunities. Coastal goalkeeper played 75 minutes in net, notching three saves before giving way to backup goalkeeper Jeremy Wolfgang.

VMI Rounds out its regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 2 as they host High Point (0-11-3, 0-4-1 Big South). The game will also feature a special presentation for Senior Day, honoring Kevin Aldrich and Kyle Fricke, the two seniors on the team.

"It is going to be a critical game for us in terms of conference standings (heading into the Big South Tournament), added Ross. "High Point is a very dangerous team. They haven't had the results, but they've played everybody tough so it should be a great contest."