Concord Continues Historic Season in MEC Semifinals at Charleston

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ATHENS, W.Va. – After its first-ever Mountain East Conference Tournament win in the quarterfinal round of the postseason tournament, the Concord University men's soccer team turns its attention towards the MEC Semifinals at Charleston 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

LIVE COVERAGE
The University of Charleston Sports Information Department will provide live statistics and live video of Wednesday's game.

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SERIES HISTORY: Charleston leads 38-0

LAST FIVE MEETINGS VERSUS CHARLESTON
November 1, 2023: #3 Charleston 5 – Concord 0 (Charleston, W.Va.)
September 20, 2023: Charleston 2 – Concord 1 (Beckley, W.Va.)
October 29, 2022: #8 Charleston 5 – Concord 0 (Charleston, W.Va.)
September 28, 2022: #9 Charleston 3 – Concord 0 (Beckley, W.Va.)
November 7, 2021: #5 Charleston 7 – Concord 0 (Beckley, W.Va.)

CONCORD AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 8-4-7
MEC Record: 4-3-7
Home Record: 7-1-2
Away Record: 1-3-5

LATE DRAMA
Concord remained in the MEC Tournament thanks to a 110^th-minute goal from junior midfielder Andre Nicholson in the MEC Quarterfinals against West Virginia Wesleyan Sunday. Nicholson's goal with 51 seconds remaining until the game went to penalty kicks was the latest goal for CU dating back to the 2008 season. In two previous instances, the Mountain Lions scored in the 106^th minute, most recently in March 2021 at Wheeling. With the goal, Nicholson also recorded his first career brace—a two-goal game—after only scoring twice in the regular season, both versus Salem. Nicholson became the first CU player with a two-goal performance this year. He's the third active player with a brace after sophomore midfielder Tomas Kelly had one at Wesleyan last season, and senior midfielder Ricardo Chinea-Pegler did the same at Alderson Broaddus in 2022.

RIDING THE WAVE
The Mountain Lions bounced back strong from last Wednesday's 5-0 loss to Charleston as they are unbeaten in eight of their last nine MEC games. The only losses Concord has had since September 23 are against Charleston, and in a non-conference game at Tusculum October 25. The eight wins that CU has compiled overall this season are the second most in program history—behind the 2000 team that racked up 13 victories. Despite giving up two goals to Wesleyan, sophomore goalkeeper Keegan Grant has only allowed 12 goals in his last 11 games while posting four of his seven shutouts over that stretch. Grant's goals-against average of 1.02 is top 50 in Division II.

SOLVING THE PUZZLE
Wednesday night will be the 39^th all-time meeting between Concord and Charleston in men's soccer with the Golden Eagles winning all 38 previous times. However, the Mountain Lions came within a goal of UC in September, falling 2-1. Junior forward Fabian Amhof scored one of his six goals this fall to tie Charleston 1-1 right before halftime. It was the closest margin for CU versus Charleston since 2014 when UC won 2-0. Last Wednesday, the Mountain Lions held Charleston to one goal in the first half that included Grant saving a penalty kick in the 26^th minute. UC scored four times in the second half. Kelly paced the Concord offense with two shots.

CHARLESTON AT A GLANCE
Overall Record: 16-1
MEC Record: 13-1
Home Record: 8-0
Away Record: 8-1

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
As the tournament's top seed, Charleston received a bye into the semifinal round with its last game coming against Concord a week ago. UC has won 13 straight games ahead of Wednesday's contest. Joao Belmudes tied for the MEC lead in goals during the regular season with 10. Eduardo Barros added nine goals in 17 games. MEC Freshman of the Year Jose Suarez Monaco found the back of the net six times. UC has Division II's best scoring offense (3.82) and is limiting teams to 0.35 goals per game, second in the nation.