PEMBROKE – Sophomore Matt MacDougall and freshman Rico Laitinen delivered a goal in each half for the UNCP men's soccer team as it notched its eighth win of the season and snapped a two-game losing streak with the victory over the Francis Marion Patriots, 2-1, on Wednesday in Peach Belt Conference action at Varsity Grounds.

With less than five minutes elapsed in the second half, Laitinen registered the game-winning goal and his third goal of the season on the assist by Daniel Bougt and Jeff MacDonald which he drilled into the back of the net on a shot from the top right corner of the box. 

Francis Marion (3-7-1, 0-4-1 PBC) set up the opportunity to score with two ticks left on the clock with a free kick sent into the box, but came up short as the shot went wide left at the final buzzer due to strong UNCP (8-3-0, 3-3-0) defense.

"We had to go all the way to the last second because they were very close to scoring in the last two seconds," said UNCP head coach Phil Hindson.

MacDougall began the scoring spree in the first half as he put the Braves ahead at the 15:11 mark with the rebound on the prior shot by Payne Clark that hit the left goal post. Francis Marion tied the game in the 31st minute when Cody Farrier posted his sixth goal of the season that was sent into the upper right corner of the net on the assist by Pascal Magiera.

The Braves outshot the Patriots by five with Martin Tomter, Sean Hoek and Laitinen each tallying four shots, while five other players combined for six shots. The Patriots were led by Henrique Guitti and Robin Schittenhelm with three shots apiece.

Junior Ryan Hanson collected nine saves in his 90 minutes between the wood for UNCP with six saves coming in the first half. Logan Fisher totaled four saves during the game for the Patriots.

"It was a great win despite the fact that we didn't play our best, but the guys fought hard and it was a good contest," Hindson said.

The Black and Gold return to action on Saturday when the squad hosts North Georgia (6-3-2, 2-1-2 )in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Varsity Grounds. Admission to all 2012 UNCP soccer games is free.

To watch the full game click PART 1 or PART 2.