Charlotte men defeat UMass

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Through a torrential downpour, the Charlotte men’s soccer squad played a beautiful match to clinch the Atlantic 10 regular season championship, upending Massachusetts, 2-0, on Friday night at Transamerica Field. The weather made playing conditions sloppy, as players continually slipped on the field all game long, but the Niners (12-5, 7-1 A-10) scored two goals in the second half to put away the Minutemen (5-5-7, 4-2-2). The victory gave Charlotte its first Atlantic 10 regular season title, and first conference regular season crown since winning the Conference USA in 1996. The 49ers will now be the first seed in the A-10 Tournament, hosted by Charlotte on Nov. 11-12, 14, and will receive a first-round bye. “It is a big thing to have to play one less game to try and win the tournament championship,” head coach Jeremy Gunn said. “The regular season meant an awful lot to our players. It was one of our goals to try and win the conference in the regular season. So it is a job done with that, but now we are looking to play knock-out soccer and win an A-10 championship and get into the national tournament.” Charlotte dominated the first half, notching 17 shots and five corner kicks and only allowing UMass one shot and one corner kick. The 49ers’ best chance in the opening period came from junior Evan James, who faked a cross and drilled a shot from 10 yards out in the right side of the box. The Minuteman goalie, Chris Piekos, barely got a paw on the ball while diving, and the UMass defense cleared it away. The two teams headed into halftime tied 0-0.   Sophomore Donnie Smith snapped the scoreless tie, three minutes into the second half. After the 49ers earned their sixth corner kick of the game, Smith lined up to deliver a cross from the left side of the field. The Matthews, N.C., native shot a terrific strike that bended through traffic off the far post and into the net to give the Niners the 1-0 lead. “The conditions really helped with that,” Smith said. “We talked at halftime about getting our corners into the six-yard box, but when I kicked it, the wind really took it. It hit the back post and went in.” The 49ers continued to pepper the goalie, and in the 79th minute broke through to add an insurance goal in the matchup. Junior Evan James received a long pass to the Massachusetts side of the field, tiptoeing behind a UMass defender to stay onside, and then glided past the Minuteman on a breakaway. On the break he found freshman Will Mayhew streaking in the center of the box and rolled a pass to him, which Mayhew deposited in the net from close range to put the nail in UMass’ coffin. James earned the assist on the play. The 2-0 score proved to be the final, as Massachusetts failed to mount a serious threat, and the 49er defense played another stalwart match. Charlotte ended the match with a 23-4 shot advantage and recorded 12 corner kicks in the affair. Freshman Klay Davis tallied the win, his first since he registered a victory over Elon on Sept. 4, suffering an injury shortly after. Davis moved to 2-2 on the year. “First of all the performance was fantastic,” Gunn said. “We defended well. UMass is a very tough, strong physical team. We won the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game and our defenders were tough to break down. Once we got possession of the ball we played some of the best soccer of the season. I am really pleased with the performance. I think the entire team played great.” The 49ers finish the conference season on Sunday, Senior Day, with a bout against Rhode Island. Senior Andres Cuero will be honored before the contest. Live stats and results will be available on charlotte49ers.com.