The College of Staten Island men’s soccer squad saw their 9-game unbeaten streak snapped on the CUNYAC’s final day, falling to Hunter College at Randall’s Island this afternoon, 2-1, on a golden overtime goal by Aristo Ioannidis scored with 1:05 left in the match. The loss, which did not affect the standings for the Dolphins, moved CSI to 8-7-1 overall and 6-1-1 in the CUNYAC, while Hunter moved to 7-9, 3-4, respectively.
Judging by the first 20 minutes it seemed like the goals would be coming in fast and furious. The teams combined for 11 shots and a pair of goals in the first stanza. First, CSI’s Tarek Emam connected on an unassisted goal at 16:33, but the lead was very short lived as Bryan Suertegaray responded just 1:24 later to knot the game at 1-1, heading in a shot past CSI keeper Kyle Coffey.
The Dolphins dominated statistically, but from there, no more goals would be scored until the fateful overtime marker by the Hawks. In-between, the goalkeepers took center stage, especially HC’s Garrett Babbitt, who made a whopping 17 saves in the win, as CSI out-shot Hunter, 26-9 (18-3 on goal). CSI’s Coffey made a lone save, suffering his first loss of the season.
CSI had the first seven shots of the overtime periods before Hunter got off the final two, and Ioannidis clinched it with a nice dribble and long shot that hit the corner against Coffey.
The loss did not impact CSI’s run through the CUNYAC, and the Dolphins still clinched the Regular Season Championship and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming postseason tournament that starts a week from today. It also had no impact on Hunter, who remain the conference’s No. 7 seed.
?CSI will officially end the regular season on Saturday, when they travel to Bard College for a 2pm non-conference showdown.
