The College of Staten Island men’s soccer team took to the pitch against Berkeley College NJ at 4:00 pm here at the CSI Soccer Complex. The Dolphins came alive in the second half to prevail with a 2-1 victory over the Knights to extend their unbeaten streak to 9 in a row. The Dolphins improve to 8-6-1 overall while the Knights fall to 3-11.
Berkeley College dominated the first few minutes of the first half against the Dolphins and spent the time of possession in the Dolphins’ final third. The men finally settled in and found their rhythm and were able to find cracks within in the Knights’ defense and almost made them pay.
A pass from Brayan Evo found Emmanuel Agboola in the box which forced Nicholas Araujo to make a big save to keep the Dolphins off of the scoreboard. Staten Island started to take control of the game and create more chances which caused the game to start to get physical, which showed as 12-6 at the half. A yellow card was issued to Araujo on a corner kick for extracurricular activities before the kick happened.
Following the yellow card Nermin Kurtesi put in a beautiful curled corner kick which found the head of Mohamed Ndao which he headed to the feet of Araujo for his second save of the half. The Dolphins’ defense started to get sloppy towards the end of the first half which led way to some dangerous chances for the visitors but they were able to keep them scoreless.
CSI had a stern talking to by Coach John Tardy at the half for their misplays in the first half and came out in the second half strong. Agboola beat four defenders down the right side of the field and had daylight and crossed it into the box to a wide open Evo who hit it over the bar for what could have been the first goal of the game.
The men would continue to create chances in front of goal as they would pour on six more shots halfway through the second half but were unable to convert any of them into goals. Rodrigo Esquivel would commit a hard foul on Agboola and receive a yellow card. Shortly after Agboola again was streaking down the center of the pitch when Brandon Curto took him out from behind which warranted a yellow card, the fourth for the Knights.
Agboola finally found pay dirt after beating the defender on the right side of the field all day. Agboola played an absolute stunner of a ball to Evo who made sure he didn’t miss this one and put it passed Araujo.
Agboola once again used his blazing speed to run passed a defender and play in a low cross to a wide open Tarek Emam who tapped it in for the Dolphins’ second goal of the game.
The Knights would not go quietly as they would make the end of the game interesting as they would score off of a set piece where John Grant would find the loose ball in the box and send it to the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Berkeley would have two more decent chances to score to tie the game up but one bounced off the post and the other careened off of the crossbar. The Dolphins were able to clear their lines and end the game with the win.
The Dolphins are back in action on Wednesday, October 21 where they will take on Hunter College at 3PM.
