BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell scored three times in a 4:33 span midway through the second half and held on to defeat UNC Wilmington 3-2 Thursday in men's soccer action at the UNCW Soccer Stadium.
Sophomore transfer J.J. Elder found the net twice during the flurry and also set up Aleksi Tossavainen's go-ahead goal in the 75th minute. Mitchell Cardenas added a pair of assists and now has six career points in three games against the Seahawks.
A defender from Austin, Texas, who tallied 3 game-winning goals as a freshman at Appalachian State in 2009, Elder drew the game level in the 72nd minute when he knocked in a loose ball from about six yards.
Only 2:50 later, Elder headed a free kick from Cardenas down in the box to Tossavainen, who booted the ball by UNCW keeper Brandon Miller to give the Camels (1-0-1) the lead at 74:08.
The outburst continued only 1:53 later. Again Cardenas served a re-start, this time to Ben Iiames, who headed the ball across the face of the goal to Elder, whose overhead kick turned a one-goal Camel deficit into a two goal cushion in less than five minutes.
"The game was back and forth all night," said Campbell head coach Steve Armas. "Once we got that first goal, the mentality of the team changed and we were hungry. UNCW gave us a lot to deal with on set pieces, but our guys kept their composure, not allowing the score and the time to not dictate the game. They kept going, kept going and earned it."
UNCW pulled within one goal in the 81st minute on Thomas Driver's header from Matt Feigler's serve.
However, Keegan Terry tacked on his first strike of the year in the 86th minute off Jonathan Ray's feed to push the margin back to a pair for the Camels, who entered the contest ranked ninth in this week's South Atlantic Region poll.
The strike was the 11th of Terry's career and marked the first time that the junior from Carrollton, Texas has scored in a non-conference match for CU.
Campbell's four-goal outburst is the most scored by either team in the series since a 5-0 Camel victory in 2000 at Buies Creek. The Camels ran their lead in the all-time set to 25-20-1, won for the fifth time in the last seven contests between the South Atlantic Region rivals and halted a two-match losing streak to UNCW.
UNCW (0-2-0) took the lead after 18 minutes of play on Jacob Vancompernolle's second goal of the season, a header from a Daniel Roberts free kick.
The Seahawks, who dropped their season opener 3-1 last week to third-ranked North Carolina, held a 6-4 edge in shots in the opening period; then outshot the Camels 4-1 over the first 21:06 of the second half.
However, Camel sophomore keeper Ethan Hall had to make only one save during the first 20-plus minutes of the final period. He finished with six saves, while Miller had five stops in the Seahawk nets.
On the night, UNCW held a slim 14-13 edge in shots, but Campbell had nine attempts on target compared to eight for the hosts. The Camels took eight corner kicks to seven for UNCW.
The teams combined for only 19 fouls (seven against Campbell) in a match where no cards were shown.
Campbell remained unbeaten following a 0-0 deadlock last Friday with Furman, which was rated 30th in the country in the CollegeSoccerNews.com poll.
The Camels return to action next week in the UNCW adidas Classic. Campbell squares off against Wofford on Fri., Sept. 9 (5:00 p.m.) and meets Hartford on Sun., Sept. 11 (1:00 p.m.).
Campbell 4, UNC Wilmington 2
Scoring:
UNCW (17:48) Jacob Vancompernolle (Daniel Roberts assist)
CAM (71:18) J.J. Elder (unassisted)
CAM (74:08) Aleksi Tossavainen (J.J. Elder, Mitchell Cardenas)
CAM (75:51) Elder (Ben Iiames, Cardenas)
UNCW (80:51) Thomas Driver (Matt Feigler)
CAM (85:42) Keegan Terry (Jonathan Ray)
Shots: CAM 13, UNCW 14
Shots on Goal: CAM 9, UNCW 8
Corner Kicks: CAM 8, UNCW 7
Saves: CAM (Ethan Hall) 6, UNCW (Brandon Miller) 5
Fouls: CAM 7, UNCW 12
Offside: CAM 2, UNCW 2
Yellow Cards: none
Red Cards: none
