GREENVILLE, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's soccer team scored three times in the final 10 minutes of a 4-1 win over Winthrop in the opening round of the Furman Diadora / Spinx Invitational on Friday night.

CofC improves to 2-1-1 on the season. The loss was Winthrop's first as the Eagles fall to 3-1-0.

"I think we can take a lot of positives out of today's match" said acting head coach Troy Lesesne. "I was glad to see us create more opportunities out of our possession and to finish a few chances is always nice"

Freshman Troy Peterson (Federal Way, Wash.) scored his first two goals as a Cougar with the second proving to be the game winner.

His first came in the 32nd minute when Robbie Benson (Rock Hill, S.C.) fed a ball across the goal mouth to the far post where Peterson tucked it home from eight yards away.

The Eagles equalized with just over a minute remaining in the first period when Alex Isern collected a ball from Matt Sluga and scored off the fingertips of CofC keeper Kees Heemskerk (Zaandam, Holland).

Overtime loomed after 35 minutes of a scoreless second half until Peterson struck again in the 82nd minute. This time he found a way to get a boot on the ball through a scramble in the box and capitalized to lift CofC to the 2-1 lead.

The Cougars weren't content with the one-goal lead and Andy Craven (St. Simon's Island, Ga.) slotted a ball into the right corner of the net after being set up by clever passing from Joey De Mare (Chapin, S.C.) and Tony Kattreh (Neptune Beach, Fla).

Just 30 seconds later, Craven sent a centering feed into Kattreh who found the left corner of the goal to push the score the eventual-final 4-1 mark.

The Cougars peppered the Eagles with 25 shots and 11 shots on goal. Heemskerk ended the night with four saves.

The Cougars continue action in the invitational when they challenge UNC Asheville at 12:00 on Sunday, Sept. 11.