MOUNT OLIVE, N.C.- Chad Pinnick (Satellite Beach, Fla., Satellite ) finished off the last regular season game of the year for Queens University of Charlotte with game-winning goal with 49 seconds left in regulation as the Trojans fell to Queens 2-1 in Conference Carolinas action Saturday at Amon Field. The win snaps a Mount Olive six-game unbeaten streak.
Mount Olive (9-6-3 overall, 3-4-3 CC) and Queens (9-6-1 overall, 5-4-1 CC) battled to a scoreless first half, but Nate Parriott got the Trojans on the scoreboard at the 55:37 mark. After a Trojan corner kick was cleared out of the box, Frank Boateng kept the ball in play on the right sideline and crossed to Parriott, who headed the ball in from 15 yards out. Parriott narrowly missed a second goal on a header in the 76th minute.
Queens evened the match in the 69th when Jon Fredrik Rektorli (Iverness, Ill., Barrington ) had a shot blocked, but the deflection went to Heath Cox (Lubbock, Tex., Monterey )inside the box. Cox scored from 12 yards out to make the score 1-1.
The match appeared to be headed for overtime, but David Palma (West Palm Beach, Fla., American Heritage ) sent a long service past the Trojan defense and Pinnick scored at 89:13 to give the Royals their first lead of the match.
A foul deep in the Queens half gave Mount Olive an opportunity to tie the match. McClaugherty bent a shot headed to the upper 90 with 14 seconds remaining, but Royals goalkeeper Dan Williams (Kingwood, Tex., Kingwood) leaped and tipped the ball off the right corner of the crossbar. Dante Dixon played a corner kick with nine seconds left, but Queens was able to clear the ball out of the box before the Trojans could attempt another shot.
Mount Olive outshot Queens 16-11 for the match, including an 11-5 edge in the second half. Trojan goalkeeper Chris Slaughter and Williams finished with two saves apiece.
The two teams were whistled for a combined 45 fouls, 26 on Queens and 19 against Mount Olive.
The highest remaining seeds host each round throughout the tournament. Semifinals are scheduled for Friday with the championship match slated for Sunday.
No. 5 seed Queens travels to Misenheimer, N.C., Tuesday to face No. 4 seed Pfeiffer. The Falcons defeated the Royals 1-0 earlier this season.
In 2007Queens advanced to the conference championship only to fall to Lees-McRae.
