HUNTSVILLE | The University of Alabama in Huntsville men's soccer team had only recorded two victories against West Alabama heading into Tuesday night. The Chargers were 0-1-2 all-time against the Tigers in the Gulf South Conference tournament going into this quarterfinal match.
 
But there would be no heartache on this evening for the Blue & White, as it was indeed the fourth time that was a charm as UAH (10-6-1) thrilled a raucous Charger Park crowd with a 1-0 victory over UWA (7-8-2) in the opening game of the 2018 GSC Men's Soccer Championships.
 
UAH will now advance to play West Florida on Friday in the tournament semifinals at 5 p.m. in Montgomery, Alabama.
 
The game was scoreless through the contest's first 65 minutes, but UAH earned a corner in the 66th and – just as the team had done three times in last week's regular season matchup in Livingston – capitalized, as Rafa Moreno headed Vicente Arratia's kick into the upper left corner of the goal to ignite the large crowd of over 500.
 
The goal is Moreno's team-leading 14th of the season, while Arratia earns his UAH-best seventh assist.
 
The Chargers would nearly ice the contest in the 82nd minute as after Myles Fullen had made a nice stop at the other end of the field, Connor Young put a strong attempt on goal that would clank off the crossbar to keep it a 1-0 lead for the hosts.
 
Fullen would finish the night with six saves on his way to posting his sixth shutout of the season.
 
The Tigers would make the gathered Charger faithful hold its collective breath in the game's waning moments as a header by Paul Efang would be cleared off the UAH line and a follow-up try would be rocketed just to left of the goal, allowing a wild celebration to ensue as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
 
For the game, UAH held a 12-11 advantage in shots, while the Tigers established a 7-5 margin in attempts that were on goal. The guests also earned six corners to four for UAH.
 
Moreno paced the Chargers with three shots of which each was on target.  
 
UAH will now turn its attention to West Florida who knocked off the Chargers 4-1 in the regular season meeting, but that score line was not indicative of the actual performance that day as the game was a one-goal contest until the late minutes when UAH was pressing in an effort to get the equalizer.
 
The contest between the second-seeded Argos and the No. 3 seed UAH will be played at the Emory Folmar Soccer Complex.