CONWAY, S.C. – Sun Belt Player of the Year Frantzdy Pierrot showed his award-winning talents as he netted the deciding goal late in the second half in No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina’s 2-1 win over No. 5 seed Howard in the semifinal round of the Sun Belt’s Men’s Soccer Championship Saturday afternoon at Coastal Carolina Soccer Stadium.
 
The championship host Chanticleers (11-6-1, 4-1 Sun Belt) advance to face No. 2 seed Georgia State (12-6-1, 3-1-1 Sun Belt) in the Sun Belt Championship match at 1 p.m. ET Sunday.
 
Coastal controlled possession early in the match and struck quickly with a Romario Piggott goal that was served up by Alex Piggott in the seventh minute.
 
The early advantage looked to be on the point of expanding on a number of occasions, but Howard keeper Carlos Caro made two saves in the first half and fought off a number of challenges from the Chanticleers.  Coastal was also guilty of five offsides calls in the first half that limited its attacking.
 
Coastal’s lack of ability to net another goal in the first half was made worse as Howard struck early in the second half. It was in the 51st minute that Andres Romero slipped a well struck ball past Coastal keeper Braulio Linares-Ortiz and across the face of the goal to tie the match at one apiece.
 
Piggott looked to be on his way to putting Coastal up a goal in the 67th minute, but his breakaway attempt hit the right post and was then brushed away by the Howard defense. The Chanticleers were unfortunate yet again as Yazeed Matthews struck the crossbar in the 74th minute.
 
Pierrot’s goal ended the run of failed efforts by Coastal as he used his size advantage to place the ball past Caro in the 82nd minute.  Darius Strambler was credited with the assist after whipping a cross towards goal.
 
ESPN3 will broadcast the conclusion of the Sun Belt Championship.
 
Stay tuned to www.sunbeltsports.org and the Sun Belt’s Twitter account – @SunBelt – for the latest information.