RINDGE, N.H. – The Gannon men's soccer team continued its Cinderella run in the NCAA Division II Tournament on Thursday afternoon. The Golden Knights, the sixth seed in Super Region 1, upset No. 2 Charleston (WV) 2-1 to advance to the Elite Eight. The Golden Knights previously upset No. 3 Millersville.

Head coach Billy Colton's team improved to 18-1-2 on the season while concluding Charleston's season at 19-2-0. UC had a 16-match winning streak snapped and had allowed just one goal in the last 11 contests. Gannon's 18 wins are tied for second all-time at Gannon. Colton's first squad in 2019 won 18 matches as did the 1989 squad. The 1985 team won 20 matches to set the school record.

More important, the Golden Knights move on to face the winner of Thursday's Franklin Pierce-Post match on Saturday, December 2 at 4:00 p.m. in the Elite 8. Franklin Pierce is the defending national champion and will be the host site of the game. The winner moves on to the NCAA Division II Final Four in Matthews, North Carolina on December 7-9.

Thursday's match pitted the top two scoring teams in Division II, with the Golden Eagles leading the country with 80 goals and Gannon second with a school-record 71 entering the match.

The contest turned into a defensive struggle, however. Neither team scored in the first half with Gannon holding a slim 2-1 advantage in shots.

Gannon finally broke the ice at 58:08 when James Pool (Hastings, England/Claverham) took a short pass from Gabriel Delin (Stockholm, Sweden/Solna Gymansium) in front of the net and blasted a shot into the right corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead. It was Pool's 17^th goal of the season, tying him for the team lead with Tinashe Katsande (Norwich, England/Dereham Sixth Form College).

Charleston needed just five minutes to knot the score at 1-1. Cairo Moraes did the honors with a shot into the low left corner, assisted by Jack Kay.

Gannon took advantage of a Charleston miscue to score the game-winning goal. The Golden Eagles committed a turnover in their own end jut past midfield, with Samuel Burton (Vantaa, Finland/Makelanrinteen Lukio) gathering in the ball and finding the back of the net from 20 yards out past an onrushing UC goalkeeper Marc Torrado.

Charleston had entered the match allowing just seven goals all season and had not allowed two goals in a match since September 10.
The Golden Eagles would keep the pressure on after that, with Samuel Alarcon (Madrid, Spain/Colegio el Valle II) gathering in a free kick from the left wing with two minutes remaining to end Charleston's final rush.

Charleston ended with a 12-5 advantage in shots and 6-3 in shots on goal. Alarcon recorded four saves in goal.

Gannon broke a six-match losing streak to Charleston with the last five by shutout. They last met in 2019 in the NCAA Tournament with Charleston prevailing 3-0. Gannon last win over UC had been in 2003.