Charlotte men beat George Washington

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Second half goals from Andres Cuero and Will Mayhew and a stellar defensive effort led the 23rd-ranked Charlotte 49ers (8-4-0, A-10: 3-0-0) to a 2-0 road win at George Washington (2-9-0, A-10: 0-2-0). The victory was the 49ers fifth straight.

“Another good solid all-around performance by our team today,” Charlotte coach Jeremy Gunn said. “We controlled the majority of the play today. In the first half it was a cat and mouse game. We had a couple of shots but George Washington’s defense was tough to break down. In the second half, we created more chances and had a couple quality goals from Andres and Will. Paul Willoughby and Will Mayhew really gave us a burst of energy in the second half. Our back line did a really nice job keeping George Washington’s goal scorers in front of them.”

In the first half, the 49ers’ Aidan Kirkbride, Tyler Gibson, Jason Hawes and Anthony Perez had shots but there were either blocked or went wide.

The second half began for the 49ers with a shot by Justin Tucker that went wide of the goal.

Then, Cuero blasted a free kick from the wing into the back of the net for the game’s first goal in the 60th minute. Cuero’s goal was his third of the season and the ninth of his career.

A couple of minutes later, Willoughby nearly scored the 49ers’ second goal when his shot hit the post.

Then, thirty seconds later, Cuero took a corner kick that went into a group of players in front of the goal. The ball came out and Mayhew blasted the rebound into the back of the net in the 63rd minute giving the 49ers a 2-0 lead. Mayhew’s goal was his second of the season.

After Mayhew’s goal, the 49ers kept trying to add to their goal total but shots by Cuero, Willoughby, Perez, Gibson, Kirkbride, Donnie Smith, Charles Rodriguez were either stopped, blocked or went wide.

Charlotte finished the game with a 17-6 advantage in shots. Kirkbride led the 49ers with three shots. Cuero, Smith, Perez, Gibson and Willoughby each tallied two shots apiece.

Charlotte’s defense behind the play of goalkeeper Gavin Dawson and defenders Thomas Allen, Rodriguez, Perez and Tucker limited George Washington to six shots en route to their sixth shutout of the season.

Charlotte returns to action when they travel to Richmond for their final road game of the season, Sunday, October 17 at 1 pm.