A pair of late first-half goals did the damage for Purchase College, as the home team was ultimately able to hold off the College of Staten Island men’s soccer team by a 2-1 count as part of season-opening non-conference play held this evening at Purchase College in Purchase, NY. The Panthers improved to 1-0 to start the 2015 season, while the Dolphins fell to 0-1.
With high hopes surrounding both teams, the first half hour of the game proved to be a 0-0 stalemate, despite the Dolphins seemingly controlling most of the pressure. PC keeper Esteban Aguilar made a pair of saves in the 10 minutes, and after 30 minutes of play CSI held a healthy, 6-1, edge in shots.
The game, however, would turn at the 34-minute mark. Just under a minute after CSI made a couple of first half substitutions, the Panthers’ Matthew Ebel would give the home squad a 1-0 lead when he was able to chip in a shot over CSI keeper Daniel Raffo from the top of the 18-yard box after a pass from Denes Kostel.
The goal ignited the Panthers. After Aguilar made another quality save, they would connect again less than 9 minutes later. In the 43rd-minute, Isaac Lee boomed a shot that hit off of the crossbar, and a heads-up Myles Clohessy was there to punch it in from point blank range with a header to make it 2-0 and put PC in complete control at the halftime whistle.
CSI needed a spark in the second frame, and again kept putting heavy pressure looking for a chance to get back into the game. That said, Rob Cal almost made the score 3-0 when his shot hit off the crossbar in the 48th-minute. From there, CSI clamped down defensively and pieced together chances. The team finally hit paydirt in the 67th minute. Freshman Philip Lefkowitz did the honors, powering a beautiful ball from the corner of the 18-yard box on a sharp pass from Aldair Ramirez.
CSI tried in vain to get the equalizer but couldn’t muster up another tally. Meanwhile, Purchase left the door open thanks to a missed penalty shot by Clohessy in the 84th minute, as Raffo made a quality stop, to keep the score 2-1. With play winding down, CSI’s Nicholas Bacarella missed a quality chance from in front of the net with just 1:13 to go, sending the ball harmlessly wide, and Purchase was able to hang on.
By game’s end, CSI had a 20-9 edge in shots taken (11-7 on goal), and were led by Lefkowitz’ six shots. CSI committed eight offsides’ infractions to PC’s three. The Dolphins started five freshmen in the starting lineup.
?The Dolphins will now be idle until Saturday, when they travel to play in the Drew University Fall Classic Tournament. On Saturday they will face The College of New Jersey in a 4:00pm matchup. They then take on Drew University on Sunday, at 4:00pm.
