Men's Soccer | 11/11/2016 9:58:00 AM
ATLANTA, GA – After a 2-1 victory for Hartwick's men's soccer team over Appalachian State in Thursday's quarterfinal, the Hawks have little time to spare as they return to Georgia State's GSU Soccer Complex today for a semifinal meeting with top seed Coastal Carolina. Kickoff is 3 p.m.
"With Coastal not playing yesterday and waiting to see who they'd play it's not going to be easy," said Hartwick coach
John Scott. "No challenge is insurmountable though and when the semifinal comes around we'll be ready and we'll want to go out and do ourselves proud."
The Chanticleers enter Friday's match with a 6-2-2 record over their last 10 games. One of their losses in the span, however, is to the Hawks, which occurred on October 15 on Elmore Field. It would mark Coastal's only conference loss.
Coastal would out-shoot the Hawks by a margin of 17-6, including an 8-1 edge in the first half, but 'Wick would wait for its prime opportunity to capitalize. In the 76
th minute,
Hamish Ritchie (Aboyne, Scotland/Aboyne Academy) started the play with a short pass to
Elliott Bentley (Leicestershire, England/Tresham College) on the right side of the Chanticleer goal. Bentley served the ball into the box to the far post and
Kyle Honor (Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) was there to get his head on it and put the ball into the far side of the net for the game's lone tally in a 1-0 Hawks' win.
"The last game took everything we had to get that result and we'll possibly need a greater effort this time around," Scott added. "Coastal are the favorites and are capable of pressing teams back and we'll need to defend well. They pinned us back the last game and we'll be ready for this again while having a plan of attack to put them under some pressure."
Mike Rood (Conklin, NY/Susquehanna Valley) leads the Hawks in both goals and points with four tallies and three assists for 11 points. Ritchie adds three goals and three assists, and
Jack Donaldson (Paisley, Scotland/Mars Hill University) has contributed a pair of goals and a team-high five assists.
Marc Berry (Galashiels, Scotland/Galashiels Academy),
Johnny McBeth (Glasgow, Scotland/Upper Iowa University), and Honor each have three goals on the year, with all three of Honor's tallies serving as game-winners. Keeper
Lenny Wilson (Aberdeen, Scotland/Cults Academy) has four clean sheets and a 1.18 goals against average.
The Chanticleers boast a pair of Sun Belt First Team players in striker Frantzdy Pierrot and defender Einar Einarsson. Coastal is 7-6-3 overall this season. They have scored 17 goals while conceding only 15 in 16 matches. Thirteen of the team's 16 games have been decided by a goal or less.
The Hawks, Sun Belt champions in both 2014 and 2015, are making their third consecutive trip to the conference semifinals. They would inch closer to their third straight title with a positive result against the Chanticleers. 'Wick would face the survivor of the Georgia Southern-Georgia State semifinal in Sunday's title game.
