YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Young Harris' Niall McCabe and Khurram Shazad tallied the tying and game-winning goals within a span of six minutes to yield the 2-1 victory over the UNCP men's soccer team in the first round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

Junior Brett Luccia collected the opening score for the Braves (11-5-1) for his fourth goal of the season in the 28th minute to give the Black and Gold the 1-0 lead. Using a turnover in the midfield, Luccia received a pass from senior Sean Hoek and sent the ball into the net from the right side.

At the 62:50 mark, McCabe notched his 15th goal of the season as Andreas Pechmann connected with William Schonfeldt and crossed the ball to McCabe for the shot on the left corner of the goal bringing the game to a 1-1 standstill.

Young Harris (14-5-1) again took to the attack in the 69th minute as Shazad collected the ball at the top of the box on the assist from McCabe and drilled the ball into the right corner of the goal for the win.

Junior goalkeeper Ryan Hanson ended his 90 minutes in between the woodwork with seven saves and two goals, while Wexley Barnard allowed one goal and grabbed four saves for Young Harris.

Freshman Rico Laitinen led the squad with three shots, while six other tallied one shot for UNCP. The UNCP defense held off Illija Ilic who led the Mountain Lions with five shots, as well as Lewis Hilton with four shots.

The Mountain Lions registered 16 shots in the second half alone and finished the game outshooting UNCP 22-9. Each team posted 14 fouls as Young Harris notched three yellow cards and the Braves had one.

The Black and Gold have matched fourth-best finish in 20 years with 11 wins since joining the PBC, and the second season in a row it has been accomplished during the Phil Hindson era. 

The Braves, which were ranked fourth in the latest NCAA Southeast Region poll, will await the next region ranking on Wednesday and again for the NCAA Selection Show to learn if they will continue on in the 34-team NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament. The NCAA Selection Show will occur on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at ncaa.com.