ATLANTA - Top-seeded Coastal Carolina scored three times in a four-minute second-half stretch to advance to the 2020 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship match, notching a 6-0 win over fourth-seeded Georgia Southern on Friday afternoon at Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta.

The Chanticleers (6-1) advance to face the winner of Friday evening's other semifinal between Central Arkansas and Georgia State in Sunday's championship match at 1. Georgia Southern finishes the Fall 2020 campaign with a 1-9 mark.

A tight defensive first half saw just one goal between the two teams - Marcelo Lage's near-post header off of a service from Emile Rzepecki in the 30th minute gave Coastal Carolina a 1-0 lead heading into the break. The Chanticleers had a 5-2 edge in shots, and Jeremiah Luoma had both of Georgia Southern's shots in the half.

Luoma almost delivered the equalizer for the Eagles in the 50th minute as his header on the far post off of a ball from Alhaji Tambadu just missed. 

Coastal Carolina doubled its lead in the 63rd minute on a corner kick delivered by Marcello Jones from the left side that found the head of Kasper Skraep, who headed it down and into the net for the 2-0 advantage. 

That opened the floodgates for the Chanticleers, who then got a second goal from Lage in the 64th minute, then a tally from Jones in the 67th minute.

Esteban Leiva capped the scoring for Coastal Carolina with a pair of goals, one coming in the 72nd minute and another coming in the 84th minute.

Coastal Carolina finished the match with an 18-7 edge in shots. Each goalkeeper - Jokull Blaengsson for Georgia Southern and Tor Saunders for Coastal Carolina - netted a pair of saves each. Coastal Carolina had six corner kicks on the day, compared to two for the Eagles. Georgia Southern was whistled for 15 fouls, compared to 11 for the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina was whistled for offsides seven times and the Eagles were offsides three times.

HEAD COACH JOHN MURPHY COMMENTS

"I thought the first half was very good, with both teams playing well. They had a little more of a cutting edge, and they scored their goal. But we certainly created some chances, and we occupied them with how we played. Changing our shape definitely caused them problems. At halftime, we were positive with how we were playing.

Then you get a five-minute period in the second half where they get on top. We had guys trying to push forward, trying to win a semifinal. I don't like to see us concede so many goals, but we were playing to win and not playing not to concede. 

It was a very difficult year both on and off the field. But any student-athlete that has participated during COVID deserves to be commended. All credit to the Sun Belt and the four men's soccer programs who made a commitment to play this Fall. It was very competitive this year throughout the league. We came out on the wrong end of it this time, but we will grow from this and look to build on it moving forward in the future."