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A sudden strike on a foggy night turned the Charlotte 49ers' men's soccer fortunes around Thursday night.
UNC Wilmington's Daniel Roberts scored a tying goal with less than 10 minutes left and the Seahawks went on to take a 4-1 penalty kicks victory. The win came after a 1-1 tie in double overtime in the NCAA tournament first-round game at TransAmerica Field.
The loss was a disappointing end to the 49ers' first trip to the NCAA tournament in 12 years, and left them with an 11-3-6 final record.
The Seahawks (14-2-5), in their first NCAA tournament, extended their unbeaten streak to 14 games and advanced to a second-round game against No.3-seeded Wake Forest at 1p.m. Sunday in Winston-Salem.
"It's disappointing because we looked like we would be a winner for much of the game," Charlotte coach Jeremy Gunn said. "But we have no excuses, no complaints. We defended and played well behind the ball, but our strikers struggled."
Senior midfielder Adam Gross scored the only goal for the 49ers in a game that was played in a dense fog for much of the first half and on a wet field for most of the game.
Gross ripped a shot from about 25 yards during the foggiest part of the game, about 28 minutes in. It slipped out of the hands of UNC Wilmington goalkeeper Brock Duckworth and into the net.
"I got the ball at midfield and the Red Sea just kind of parted on it," Gross said. "In a game like this, you're so hyped up you don't notice things like the fog."
The 49ers made that lead hold up until Roberts put a bending 23-yard free kick into the top left corner of the net in the 81st minute.
After two 10-minute overtime periods didn't decide the issue, the 49ers went into their second penalty kicks game in a week. They lost on penalty kicks to Rhode Island last Thursday in the Atlantic 10 tournament final.
Seahawks coach Aidan Heaney, a goalkeeper on the 49ers' first NCAA tournament teams in 1991 and 1992, said the victory was bittersweet.
"When the draw came out, my heart sunk, but you have to put sentimentality aside and play the game," he said.
