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GREENSBORO, NC—Mason Lavallet's goal in the 89^th minute capped one of the best comebacks in school history as the Winthrop scored two goals in the final three minutes and three seconds for a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Coastal Carolina to capture the 2012 Big South Conference Men's Soccer Championship, Sunday afternoon at Bryan Park.

Moments before the Eagles started their come back, Coastal Carolina's Ashton Bennett nearly buried his second goal of the game and put Winthrop away as his shot from about 30 yards out and to the left of Enrique Miranda as it ripped across the mouth of the goal and banged off the post and stayed out of the net.

Winthrop responded by tying the match in the 87^th minute as Adam Brundle dribbled through several Coastal players down the middle of the field and dished the ball off to his left to Patrick Barnes, who took a touch and then blasted a low shot to the lower right corner from the top of the box.

The Eagles (12-8-1) weren't done as they continued to apply the pressure and Alex Isern battled for the ball down the left wing and extended out to send a cross across the mouth of the goal as Lavallet ran on at the back post and buried the shot from eight yards out for the game-winner.

It is the fifth championship in school history and the third time Winthrop has been successful in the title game against Coastal Carolina. The game mimicked the 2008 title game a bit as the Eagles rallied with under a minute to tie the Chanticleers and then won in double-overtime. The Eagles are now 3-2 all-time against Coastal Carolina in the finals.

Coastal Carolina (18-2-2), who had a 19-game unbeaten streak entering the contest and were ranked 8^th nationally, had control of the first half and took advantage of a couple of bad clears by the Eagle defense. The first one came in the 18^th minute as Bennett scored his 15^th goal of the year. The ball was sent into the box and it bounced around among a crowd as Pedro Ribeiro had a rip inside the six-yard box on the ground that was saved by Miranda and then Bennett had a shot that looked to be saved by Miranda but the linesman called the ball across the goal line for a 1-0 Chanticleer lead.

In the 26^th minute, Coastal Carolina took a 2-0 lead as Uchenna Uzo put away a rebound off Bennett's initial shot. The ball was played in off a corner and cleared poorly by the Eagles as Bennett had a low rip but the shot was blocked and came right out to Uzo, who took a touch and then ripped a shot through the crowd in the box and high into the net.

Winthrop found life in the 55^th minute off a set piece as Josh Mort's throw-in to the left of the keeper made it all the way to the back post as Magnus Thorsson buried a free header into the right side of the goal from about eight yards out.  

"I'm really proud of the effort these guys gave today as they did a great job fighting back," said head coach Rich Posipanko, who is now 5-2 in Big South Championship games. "Coastal is a great team and very difficult to play against but even going down 2-0 this group continued to play hard and believed in themselves to come back. It was another great game against Coastal, which is always the case."

Miranda had a couple of crucial saves to keep the Eagles in the game and finished with six saves while his counterpart Federico Bertele finished with one save.

Isern was named the Big South Conference Tournament's Most Valuable Player as he was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Thorsson, Jordi Lluch and Miranda.

The victory marked the highest nationally-ranked team that Winthrop has defeated in school history. The previous was in 2002 when the Eagles beat Coastal Carolina in the regular season as they were ranked 10^th at the time.  

There will be a selection show party for all fans and media on Monday, Nov. 12 at the Richardson Ball Room in the DiGiorgio Campus Center. The doors open at 5 p.m. with refreshments and the Eagles will find out who they are headed to face in the NCAA Tournament as the selection show starts at 5:30 live on www.ncaasports.com.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Alex Isern, Winthrop (MVP)
Enrique Miranda, Winthrop
Magnus Thorsson, Winthrop
Jordi Lluch, Winthrop
Justin Portillo, Coastal Carolina
Uchenna Uzo, Coastal Carolina
Ashton Bennett, Coastal Carolina
James Jordan, Radford
Ryan Taylor, Radford
Kody Palmer, High Point
Mamadee Nyepon, High Point
Tyler Beadle, Presbyterian College
Satoshi Tatsumi, Gardner-Webb
Mitchell Cardenas, Campbell