White lifts Coastal past Cougars in overtime

Coastal Carolina defeated in-state foe College of Charleston 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at the CCU soccer stadium.

The Chanticleers had a commanding lead in the series going into this game, having not lost to the Cougars since 2010.

Things looked as if they were going to remain that way when a penalty was awarded to the Chanticleers in the final stages of a rather uneventful first half.

Senior forward Wes White stepped up to spot but had his penalty saved by Charleston goalkeeper Kevin Shields. The match would go into the halftime break scoreless.

White talked about moving past the missed penalty and head coach Shaun Docking’s message to him at the break.

“Coach really didn’t say anything to me after my miss,” said White. “A lot of the guys were encouraging though and everyone kept my head up and we kept the intensity high.”

White nearly found the back of the net in the 69th-minute but his shot was saved. Five minutes later, White’s shot trickled just past the post and out for a goal kick.

After 81 minutes of pure frustration, the Chanticleers found their breakthrough goal through senior forward Frantzdy Pierrot. White played in his fellow teammate and Pierrot slotted the ball into the corner for the opening goal.

It was Pierrot’s third goal of the season.

However, the breakthough goal would be short-lived as Charleston was able to equalize in the 85th-minute and would eventually send the game into overtime.

White talked about his thoughts on the equalizing goal and Docking’s message to the team going into the extra period.

“There were a lot of things that were going through my head when they equalized,” said White. “The main thing was that we needed to score again and get a win. The message from coach going into overtime was simple. Score. We know that a golden goal is the rule and all it takes is one goal to win the game.”

Not even two minutes passed when the White finally got his first goal of the season. White collected the ball from Martin Melchor and fired a shot into the roof of the net, finishing off the cougars and grabbing the team’s third win of the season.

“Martin played me a great ball behind the defenders and I knew from that angle that I couldn’t place the ball and score,” said White. “So, I went for power and was hoping to catch the keeper off guard and it seemed to work.”

This was Coastal’s fifth straight win against College of Charleston and much needed win at that. The Chanticleers move to 3-4-0 on the year and the team takes on VCU on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. at the CCU soccer stadium.