CCU

No. 23 Coastal Carolina Plays Host to Radford Sunday

Coastal only undefeated team in Big South Play

       

Luis Faz

Luis Faz

Oct. 7, 2011

CONWAY - The nationally ranked Coastal Carolina men's soccer team plays host to conference foe Radford Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2:00 p.m. at the CCU Soccer Field.

The Chanticleers (8-2, 2-0 BSC) are coming off their fourth come from behind win of the season on Wednesday to defeat the College of Charleston, 3-1 at Patriots Point. It marked the first win against the Cougars away from Conway since 2006.

Freshman Ricky Garbanzo scored the game winning goal in the 80th minute on a header off a corner kick by Justin Portillo. Two-time Big South Conference Attacking Player of the Week, Ashton Bennett opened the scoring, netting the first two goals for the Chants increasing his season goal total to 11. Bennett entered Wednesday's match ranking fourth in the NCAA in total goals, goals per game and fifth in points per game.

As a team, Coastal entered the week ranked second in scoring offense and third in total goals in Division I.

The Chanticleers are currently ranked No. 23 by College Soccer News, No. 24 by SoccerAmerica.com in addition to being ranked fifth in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America South Atlantic Region. The Chants are also receiving votes in the NSCAA national poll.

Coastal has won eight of its last nine matches including wins over the then 16th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth and the 21st-ranked Ohio State on back-to-back Sundays. Coastal topped both Liberty and Gardner-Webb, 3-1 to open the Big South slate 2-0 for the first time since 2008. College of Charleston was ranked sixth in the South Atlantic region when the Chants defeated them on Wednesday.

Sunday's match-up marks the 28th meeting between the two schools with the series knotted at 12-12-3, which includes a 1-1 draw last year in Radford. The Highlanders (5-5, 1-1 BSC) are coming off back-to-back overtime losses after finishing the month of September with a pair of wins over Elon (5-1) and Big South opponent Campbell (2-1).

Fans can follow the Chanticleers all season long at GoCCUSports.com and receive short updates on twitter at twitter.com/GoCCUSports.