The College of Staten Island women’s soccer team used a strong start and opportunistic game play, to take a 5-1 decision over visiting City College of New York in a CUNYAC contest played at the CSI Soccer Complex earlier this afternoon.  The win lifted the Dolphins to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the CUNYAC, while the Beavers fell to 0-14, 0-4, respectively.  The win completes a CSI season sweep of CCNY, as the Dolphins insured themselves of a least a tie for second place in the CUNYAC standings when the women’s tournament kicks off later this month.
In their first meeting, it took the Dolphins almost 70 minutes to crack the scoring column in the eventual 1-0 win.  This time around the Dolphins used just 2:24 to hit paydirt.  Lauren Neglia laced a shot off of CCNY keeper Jessica Cardona, and the rebound found the open leg of Christina Jacob, who fired from just outside the goal box into the low left hand corner to put CSI on top, 1-0.  
From there, the game moved back and forth with both teams advancing into the other’s zone.  Finally, at 30:10, CSI leading scorer Demi-Jean Martorano punched in a 10-yarder off of a Jacob lead pass to double CSI’s lead.  With momentum on their side, CSI struck again three minutes later, when a Martorano cross found a wide-open Christina Sgarlato who headed it in from close range.  CSI inserted the dagger with 21 ticks left in the stanza, when Sgarlato banged home her second goal off of a Neglia rebound, who earned her second assist.
A headstrong CCNY came out with force in the second half, as CSI pulled back many players in a defensive stance in the final 45 minutes.  Throwing players forward only when needed, CSI scored again late, at 85:53, when Natalie Tombasco raced in from the right, shed a defender and laced a shot in the net on a Cassandra Black feeder.  With 48 seconds left, however, the Beavers broke up the shutout.  A racing Yanique Newman got behind the CSI defense and as she was about to shoot in the box, she was clutched by CSI keeper Danielle McLaughlin, prompting a foul call.  Newman was awarded a penalty shot, and nailed it in to the top corner, to make it a 5-1 final.
Despite the lop-sided score, the game was statistically very even.  CCNY held a 16-14 edge in overall shots, while the Dolphins held the edge in shots on goal, 11-8.  CCNY held a 2-1 edge in corner kicks, while CSI committed 10 fouls to CCNY’s 4.  There were no bookings.
The game had a pink backdrop today, as the Dolphins celebrated their 2nd Annual Kick for a Cure event, designed to promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for the Staten Island Breast Cancer Research Initiative.  The team and staff wore pink, and members of the St. Joseph Hill Academy High School marched out with the Dolphins during introductions, also in pink.  
CSI will return to action on Friday, when they travel to Met Oval for a CUNYAC date with John Jay College on Friday afternoon at 2pm.  CSI won the earlier season meeting with the Bloodhounds at CSI, 8-0.