SCU Heat crushes the Coastal Kings in UPSL Mid-Atlantic semifinal
A first-half hat trick from Ighede and second-half brace from Hanson send the Heat to the Final
It was a dominant 6-0 win for the South Carolina United Heat over the Coastal Kings in the UPSL Premier Mid-Atlantic semifinal played Saturday night in Columbia.
John Ighede scored a first-half hat trick as the visitors from Savannah had no answers for the big man up top for the Heat.
Ighede beat the Kings high defensive line in the 12th minute to go on a long solo run to calmly slot the ball in the net for the 1-0 lead past the onrushing Kings keeper. Ighede added another goal in the 22nd minute timing his run perfectly across the Kings back line to collect a ball looped over the top for the cool finish low past the helpless Kings keeper. The hat trick was complete in the 33rd minute as a Heat shot was parried by the Kings keeper right to Ighede who beat the keeper low to the near post with a one-time half volley with the outside of his right boot.
Up 3-0 at the half, it was now time for Heat captain Seth Hanson to score a brace to put the game well out of reach. After some clever Heat interplay worked the ball up the right flank created a low driven cross, Hanson collected the poorly handled ball off the Kings keeper to fire the ball into the empty net for the 4-0 advantage in the 57th minute. The brace for Hanson was completed in the 72nd minute after a quick pass deep in the box put Hanson in on goal to nutmeg the keeper and push the score to 5-0.
A late goal in the 89th minute from Martin Carpena completed the rout and sends the Heat to the conference final next weekend. The Kings had defeated the Heat 4-3 in Columbia late in the regular season and the Kings had been the hottest team in the conference over the past few weeks. But the clock struck midnight on this Cinderella inaugural season for the Kings as they crashed out of the UPSL playoffs versus the Heat.
Andreas Kokoska went all 90 minutes in the Heat net earning the shutout win.
The Heat will host Charleston United in the final after Charleston defeated Soda City in the other semifinal. The final will be played December 13 or 14 in Columbia.
