Charlotte men lose to Xavier in A-10 Semifinal

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte men’s soccer squad tied Xavier, 0-0, but the Musketeers advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship match on penalty kicks, knocking the 49ers out of the tournament on Friday at Transamerica Field.

The Niners (13-5-1) peppered the Musketeer goalie, Justin Marshall, all game long. The 49ers out-shot Xavier  (10-6-4) 31-7 and tallied 11 corner kicks to the Musketeers’ two, but Marshall made 13 saves to keep the Musketeers in the game. Davis played well in net for Charlotte, saving three shots.

“Xavier battled so hard and they were so determined, you have to give them credit for hanging in all game,” head coach Jeremy Gunn said. “When you had over 30 shots it just doesn’t feel right [to lose]. We had fantastic efforts, the keeper made great saves, and we had them on the ropes the entire game, but it is a game about goals.”

After the two squad battled to a scoreless tie through 90 minutes in regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, the game went to penalty kicks. Both squads interchanged successful kicks through the first three penalty kicks. Freshman Tyler Gibson, junior Donnie Smith and junior Charles Rodriguez all drilled Charlotte’s first, second and third penalty kicks, respectively.

Xavier’s James Queree converted the Musketeers’ fourth penalty kick and Marshall came up big again for Xavier stopping junior Paul Willoughby on Charlotte’s fourth try. Brandon Bucher netted the fifth penalty kick for the Musketeers to move them on to the championship match.

Junior Evan James led Charlotte with nine shots, including six on goal. On two occasions, James struck back-to-back kicks with the goalie out of position, but Marshall made phenomenal, diving saves to keep the 49ers off the scoreboard. Freshman Aidan Kirkbride recorded six shots, including two missiles that Marshall barely got a paw on in the first half. El–Hadji Dieng led Xavier with three shots.

The game officially goes down as a tie, Charlotte’s first tie of the season, but Xavier advances on penalty kicks. Xavier will play second-seeded La Salle for the A-10 Tournament Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on atlantic10.com