GREENSBORO, NC UNC Greensboro freshman Henning Jonason scored on a free kick with 43 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Spartans to a 4-3 win over William & Mary in front of a men's soccer FallFest crowd of 1,517 Saturday night.
Jonason scored after Randi Patterson was fouled while the Spartans were trying one last offensive surge with just over a minute. Jonason hit his ball from the middle of the field 25 yards out into the top right corner of the net for his second tally of the night and the game-winner.
UNCG had grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first half and looked to be well in control. Junior forward Randi Patterson scored on a header
9:35 into the match to open the scoring. The Hermann Award candidate leaped high in the air for a long ball from Jonason into the box and headed it over the head of the Tribe keeper for a 1-0 lead.
UNCG took a 2-0 lead at 19:09 when the Spartans' other Hermann Award candidate found the net for the first time this season. Junior midfielder Scott Jones, who leads UNCG in assists with six this season, garnered a loose ball in the UNCG defensive end and dribbled the length of the field. After going about 70 yards with the ball himself, Jones was left alone when two Tribe defenders both ran after Patterson, who was trailing on the play. Jones then hit a blast into the net for his first tally of the season and a two-goal advantage.
The Tribe (2-3-0) cut the lead in half at 53:31. Jarrett Thomas scored his team-leading fifth of the season on a roundhouse kick off of Martin Brady's corner kick to make it a 2-1 game.
UNCG (5-2-0) pushed the lead back to two just 3:23 later when freshman forward Thomas Campbell scored his first of the season. Patterson chased down a loose ball on the left side of the net and circled back to find Egill Atlason at the top of the box. Atlason then fed Campbell in front of the net, who blasted the ball into the net for a 3-1 advantage.
But William & Mary would not go away. Andrwe Hoxie scored unassisted after he intercepted a failed clear and put it into the net at 63:33 to make it 3-2. The Tribe then tied the game with 8:29 to play when Brendan McCurdy scored off a feed from Jarrett.
But Jonason's blast with time ticking down won it for the Spartans, who now are 17-2-2 on FallFest since 1984. It also gave Michael Parker his 440th career coaching victory on the night that he was inducted into UNCG's Athletics Hall of Fame.
UNC Greensboro will face sister-school and arch-rival North Carolina on Tuesday in Chapel Hill in a battle of nationally-ranked squads. Game time is 7 pm.
AGATE
William & Mary...... 0 3 - 3
UNC Greensboro...... 2 2 - 4
SCORING SUMMARY: UNCG - Patterson (Jonason), 9:35; UNCG - Jones (unassisted), 19:09; WM - Thomas (Brady), 53:31; Campbell (Atlason, Patterson), 56:08; WM - Hoxie (unassisted), 63:33; ; WM - McCurdy (Thomas), 81:31; UNCG Henning Jonason (unassisted), 89:17. Shots: William & Mary 9, UNC Greensboro 14; Saves: William & Mary 4 (Rake 4), UNC Greensboro 5 (Benfield 5); Corner kicks: UNC Greensboro 2, William & Mary 5; Fouls: UNC Greensboro 27, William & Mary 20.
- UNCG -
