Wilmington, NC - Cape Fear men's soccer won the play-in game of the NJCAA Region 10 conference tournament, defeating Wake Tech Community College, 3-1.

The Sea Devils entered Tuesday's game coming off a 0-0 draw over Spartanburg Methodist. It secured 4th place and home field advantage for today's game. The Eagles, meanwhile, entered the game coming off a 2-2 tie, also to Spartanburg Methodist.

Cape Fear took the lead in the 16th minute, as Alfredo Martinez scored off a penalty kick. The score remained at 1-0 until the 31st minute, when Josh Barnello scored off an assist from Christian Vega. Renzo Tenorio played a ball that was dummied by Franco and came to Vega. Vega played a through ball to Barnello, who buried it in the net. Barnello had a strong game, working hard on both sides of the ball.

Later in the first half, an own goal from Wake Tech's goalkeeper made it 3-0. Logan Edwards made contact with the goalkeeper off a corner kick by Fernandez, causing the keeper to knock the ball into his own net. Cape Fear took that lead into the half.

The score remained the same until late in the second half, when the Eagles got a goal back be off a penalty kick in 76th minute. However, it was too late to mount a comeback.

"Overall we played well and took advantage of our chances," said assistant coach Chris Harper. "Our back four kept us in the game; however, this team needs to keep its composure to be truly successful."

The back four of Edwards, Keaton Simmons, Eion Dockery, and Javi Ayala did a great job of limiting Wake Tech's chances. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Lucas Gusmao was superb in goal, finishing with 11 saves in the game.

"I'm very pleased with our performance tonight," said head coach C.W. Ponton. "We need to hold our composure and realize some teams will try and get the best of us when we're beating them. That being said we played well today."

Cape Fear improves to 9-6-1 on the season, and 8-6-1 in conference.

They move on to the NJCAA Region 10 conference tournament, which starts this Saturday, October 28th. The game time and opponent has yet to be decided.

Courtesy of Nick Denning