The Berkeley College New Jersey men's soccer team got back in the win column on Wednesday afternoon as the Knights defeated the Patriots of the University of Valley Forge by a score of 5-0 in Phoenixville, PA. With the victory, Berkeley improved its record to 9-1 on the season, while the Patriots dipped to 1-9 on the year. Following the victory, Head Coach Bruno Ferreira gave his thoughts.
"I'm very proud of the way our team got after it today following a loss this past Sunday to the University of Maine at Fort Kent," Ferreira said. "Part of establishing ourselves as one of the top teams in this National conference is how we respond to defeats, and I feel today we did a great job of leaving Sunday behind us and focusing on what lies ahead of us. This was a great team victory, and we'll hope to keep things rolling Saturday against Cooper Union."
The Knights dominated the Patriots all afternoon, as Berkeley out-shot the University of Valley Forge by a staggering margin of 43-4. Berkeley's first goal on the day came 9:42 into the contest courtesy of offensive ace Shabthai Abellard, as he received a pass from Kevin Soares before depositing the ball into the net to give his team a 1-0 edge. The Knights' other goal in the opening session came when Wolfgang Whalen blasted home a ball off of a pass from Alejandro Castro-Rubio at 37:59 to increase his team's advantage to 2-0.
In the second half, Berkeley continued to pepper shots into the net. At 48:02, it was Castro-Rubio knocking home a ball off a pass from Soares to make it 3-0 in favor of the Knights. Berkeley's final two tallies of the day came courtesy of Abellard (his second goal of the match – this one at 74:01 – from Edgar Jurado) and Arturo Layza (from Jurado at 77:44).
Knights netminders Robert Parker and Wily Peralta combined for the shutout, with each goalie playing 45 minutes and making one save apiece. Patriots goaltender Bryan Ardon made 12 stops in net in addition to allowing all five Berkeley goals.
Berkeley College will return to action Saturday afternoon as the Knights will take on Cooper Union. The match will take place at field No. 70 at Randall's Island. Start-time for the match is scheduled for 1:00pm.
