Winthrop falls in overtime to Coastal, 1-0
By Staff Reports The Herald
(Published November 14‚ 2005)
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Fifth-seeded Winthrop fell to third-seeded Coastal Carolina 1-0 in overtime of the Big South Conference Men's Soccer Championship match on Sunday.
Joseph Kwabe's goal in the 95th minute gave Coastal Carolina the championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament.
The Eagle defense tried to pull an offsides trap and pleaded for the offsides after a through ball sent Kwabe free down the left side of the field. He cut the ball back from the baseline as the Eagle defense recovered and fired a low shot toward the far post that slipped by Winthrop goalkeeper Patrick Mitrovich.
Winthrop took a big hit in the 30th minute as the team's leading scorer was given a red-card right before a Winthrop free kick. The Eagles played the rest of the match a man down.
Despite being a man down, the Eagles caught a break in the final two minutes of the match as they were awarded a penalty shot when Coastal Carolina goalkeeper Aaron Weant pulled down Daniel Revivo in the box.
Senior David Garry stepped up to take the penalty kick, but his shot didn't go far enough to the corner and Weant made the save.
"We were put in a very difficult situation having to play down a man for 65 minutes in a championship game," said coach Rich Posipanko, who coached in his third Big South Championship match. "We never gave ourselves the opportunity to win by playing a man short and then missing a penalty, which as it turned out would have been the game-winner."
The Eagles nearly drew another penalty kick late in the game as Revivo again challenged the keeper again and got his head on the ball and then was run over by Weant, but the referee felt it was a fair 50-50 challenge.
With the absences of Isaac for the remainder of the match, the Eagles were forced to change it's approach to the remainder of the game.
"Saidi, who is one of the top scorers in the nation, is such an important part of our attack and with him out for the remainder of the game and playing shorthanded our entire style of play had to change," added Posipanko. "Once into the second half we tried to extend the game through the overtime periods and win the game on penalty kicks."
The Eagles had a good opportunity off a free kick in the final 15 minutes of the match. Garry's service into the box found David Kenga, but his header from eight yards out sailed over the crossbar.
"At the end of the day we only have ourselves to blame," said Posipanko.
