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November 6, 2009
 ROCK HILL, S.C. - The Lions' men's soccer team eliminated the No. 2 seed, Wingate University 4-1 Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Soccer Tournament to advance to the championship match on Sunday. The event was played at Manchester Meadows. MHC improved to 8-7-4 on the season while Wingate fell to 12-4-1 on the year. This is the first time MHC has made it to the finals of the SAC Tournament since the 1998 season.
Xavier Belles (Guayaquil, Ecuador) scored the first goal in the match off a deflection to give the Lions a 1-0 advantage at the 22:30 mark. The teams carried that score into the locker room at the intermission.
Stephen Kehoe (Newry, Ireland) tied the match in the 60th minute on a deflection off a Bulldog corner kick. Rury Caulfield (Glasgow, Scotland) then notched what would later prove to be the match winner at the 73:08 mark from about 20 yards out on a pass from Cody Langley (Longview, Texas).
Belles added an insurance goal in the 79th minute on a long breakaway. The final goal in the contest was due to an own goal by Wingate at the 83:29 mark.
Wingate out shot MHC, 25-15 and edged the Lions in corner kicks, 11-7. Alex Huckabee (Kernersville, N.C.) played the entire 90 minutes in goal for MHC and made 12 saves. The 12 saves tied his career high. Joey Calandra (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) also played the entire contest in the net for the Bulldogs and made five saves.
The Lions will now meet the No. 5 seed, Tusculum College, in the SAC Championship Match on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Manchester Meadows. Tusculum upended top-seeded Carson-Newman, 2-1 to advance to the finals.
Boxscore...
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