Charlotte 49ers advance in NCAA soccer tournament on penalty kicks
The Charlotte 49ers survived 35 minutes of short-handed soccer Thursday night and eliminated Georgia State on penalty kicks in a first-round NCAA tournament match.
The 49ers converted their first three penalty kicks, and Georgia State missed itsthree attempts. That followed 90 minutes of regulation play and a pair of five-minute overtimes that produced a 2-2 tie at Transamerica Field.
Charlotte moves on to the second round, with a visit scheduled Sunday to 12th-seeded Virginia Tech.
Callum Montgomery, Maclean Holbrook and Tommy Madden connected on the Charlotte penalty-kick attempts.
The 49ers led 2-1 midway in the second half when forward Daniel Bruce, who had scored the go-ahead goal, was given a red card after picking up his second yellow card. That meant Charlotte had to play a man short for the rest of the game.
Georgia State tied the match with five minutes left in regulation and nearly scored twice in the second overtime, but Charlotte goalkeeper Elliot Panicco made two sprawling saves.
The trend for the game was set in the first half, which had as many yellow cards as goals – and more fouls than shots.
Charlotte got the early lead on a goal by Dean Rutherford in the ninth minute. Rutherford scored on a header off a pass from Bruce.
Georgia State got the equalizer in the 40th minute. The Panthers launched a counter-attack, with Hannes Burmeister passing the ball into the box. Panicco drifted away from the goal to break up the play, but the ball landed on the foot of Aris Briggs, and he buried it into the left side of the net.
The 49ers took a 2-1 lead midway in the second half, when Bruce evaded a defender, and sent a blistering, low kick into the left side of the net. Bruce received a yellow card for excessive celebration after the goal.
That celebration came back to haunt the 49ers when Bruce picked up his second yellow card two minutes later. Georgia State made the most of its 11-on-10 advantage with five minutes to play, when Panicco and defender Delasi Batse collided in front of the goal, and the Panthers’ Alex Summerfield scored into an empty net.
Records: Georgia State is 11-6-3; Charlotte is 14-4-2.
Three who mattered
Callum Montgomery (Charlotte): A senior defender, Montgomery had four shots and scored the first of the 49ers’ three penalty kicks.
Bruce (Charlotte): On the positive side, Bruce had a goal and an assist. On the negative, he received a red card midway in the second half.
Alex Summerfield (Georgia State): Summerfield, a reserve defender, scored the tying goal and led the Panthers with four shots.
Worth mentioning
▪ The 49ers will be without their leading scorer – Bruce – for the second-round match at Virginia Tech. Bruce, who led the team with 14 points during the regular season, is ineligible to play in the next round because he received a red card Thursday night.
▪ Charlotte was perfect at Transamerica Field during the regular season, going 9-0. It was the first home unbeaten regular season since 2011, when the 49ers reached the NCAA finals.
▪ The 49ers’ defense, which ranks fifth nationally, has lost a bit of its edge since the regular season. Charlotte posted seven straight shutouts, but the string ended with the start of the Conference USA tournament. The 49ers allowed three goals in their final two conference tournament matches.
They said it
“It was a roller-coaster of a game.” -- Charlotte coach Kevin Langan.
“When it came to PKs, we were ready. We don’t believe it’s lottery, luck of the draw. We train them for PKs.” -- Langan.
What’s next?
▪ Charlotte has a second-round match, tentatively set for Sunday afternoon at Virginia Tech. Georgia State’s season is finished.
This story was originally published November 15, 2018 at 10:36 PM.