Charlotte men defeat Winthrop

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Charlotte 49ers men’s soccer squad came away with an exciting 4-2 victory over Winthrop in the final game of the Charlotte Nike Invitational with the Niners taking the crown as the top team. The 49ers took a 3-0 lead over the Eagles before allowing two late goals by WU, but a late Jennings Rex goal sealed the victory for Charlotte.

“We played scintillating soccer in the beginning and really took it to Winthrop by scoring three goals to put us up,” head coach Jeremy Gunn stated. “However, Winthrop has a ton of attacking weapons, which doesn’t allow you to switch off and assume the game is won.”

The game seemed out of reach for Winthrop until Matthew Skonicki struck a goal in the 76th minute to cut Charlotte’s lead to 3-1 and then added another goal five minutes later, which worried the fans in attendance at Transamerica Field.

However a Rex goal one minute after Skonicki’s second goal calmed the fans fears as Charlotte’s goal deflated the Winthrop players and the 49ers were able to hold on for the victory and claimed the tournament crown for the second straight year.

“Rex’s goal was very important because at the point in the game when we were up 3-0 we felt it was done, but suddenly Winthrop made it a game again,” said Gunn. “Winthrop could have really came after us in the last ten minutes, but Jennings (Rex) put the icing on the cake.”

“It was good to get my first career goal, but to get the second one which put Winthrop away was great,” Rex stated of his late goal. “We could have fell down at the end, but we kept pushing and we were able to come away as the tournament champions.”

Leading off the scoring in the game was Evan James in the tenth minute as the sophomore forward received a long clearing pass from defender Nathan Mathers and dribbled to ball at Winthrop goal keeper Enrique Miranda before placing the ball into the far post for the games opening goal. The goal was the fourth of the season for James, which leads the team.

Rex scored his first career goal to give Charlotte a 2-0 lead in the 37th minute. A beautiful Jason Hawes through ball cut in between two Eagle defenders and set up Rex in a breakaway situation against Miranda with Rex out-dueling the freshman keeper as his shot dropped into the left corner.

Charlotte took the 2-0 advantage into the half as the 49ers outshot the Eagles 9-7 in the opening stanza.

The 49ers kept up the offensive attack in the second half as Isaac Cowles scored his first career goal to push the Niners lead to three. Cowles flicked a Donnie Smith free kick with the back of his head past Miranda into the near post to give the sophomore defender the score.

Two misplayed balls by the Charlotte defense allowed Skonicki to score his seventh and eighth goals of the season with Matt Horn assisting on the first.

However, the Niners rebounded as Andres Cuero attacked the Winthrop defense before losing his balance in the box. Fortunately for Charlotte, Rex collected the ball and drilled it into the left side to give Charlotte a two goal advantage.

Four Charlotte 49ers were named to the 2009 Charlotte Nike Invitational All-Tournament team. Evan James was named Tournament MVP with Charles Rodriquez, Jason Hawes and Jennings Rex also claiming honors for their play this weekend.

“I came out this weekend and did the best I could to try and attack the opposing team’s offense and pressure them,” James stated about his performance that led to MVP honors. “As a unit we played very well and hopefully we can continue that play into next week.”

This coming week Charlotte faces off against UNC-Greensboro on the road in a Saturday match at 7 p.m.