The College of Staten Island men’s soccer team took to their home pitch for the last time this season against the Ducks from Stevens Institute.  It was a battle from start to finish but it was the Ducks who came out on top with a 2-0 victory.  The loss drops the Dolphins to 8-5-2 overall while the win promotes the Ducks to 7-4-1 overall.

The game was a one-sided affair early on, with the Ducks dominating possession.  As the game progressed it began to level out as both teams played physical soccer.  In the early goings however, both teams struggled to find open space to take a shot as the first shot of the game didn’t come until 15 minutes in.  The Dolphins were able to finally find their first shot of the game in the 31st minute when Ali Fares shot one wide of goal. 

CSI best opportunity of the game to scored came off of the head of Dardan Nika which forced Mitko Bozinov to make the save.  Both teams continued to press each other’s brick wall of a defense but were unable to find a crack in the wall. 

It wasn’t until there was 10 seconds left in the half that the Ducks were unable to unlock CSI’s defensive unit.  A free kick from the left side was flicked back post and found Jay Mikula who blasted it past Jake Foeldes for the game’s first goal with five seconds remaining in the half. That goal marked the second time this season the Dolphins have given up a goal before the half with under 10 seconds remaining.

At the half the Dolphins trailed 7-4 in shots while holding a 2-1 edge in corner kicks.

The Dolphins were unable to muster any offense in the second half and were held to zero shots in the second half for the first time this season.  The Dolphins’ four total shot also marks their lowest shot total of the season.  CSI is not a team to give up multiple goals per game as their defensive unit came into today’s contest ranked the 28th defense in the country allowing just .63 goals per game.  The Ducks would ignore that stat this afternoon as they would go on to score a second goal just four minutes into the second half when they were able to find a wide open Daniel Aversano down the right side. Aversano was able to rip a low shot far post that snuck underneath Foeldes’ outstretched arm.

After that second goal the Duck’s defense went into lock down mode to protect their clean sheet.  Despite the Dolphins’ best attempts at cracking the code, they were unable to find the winning combination to unlock that back line to find the back of the net.

The Dolphins will return to action on Saturday, October 15 when they travel to the Bronx, NY to take on Lehman College in a CUNYAC clash at 2:30 pm.