The Berkeley College New York men's soccer team picked up a solid victory to begin its 2018 season on Saturday afternoon, shutting out Fisher College by a score of 2-0 in a contest that took place at Hormel Stadium in Medford, MA.
It was the third consecutive year in which the Knights opened their season against the Falcons. Berkeley suffered a tough 5-4 loss in overtime back in 2016, but defeated Fisher 3-1 last season. In this year's opener, the Knights played a tremendous all-around game to pick up the win.
The game's first goal came in the 17th minute when Berkeley standout Marcos Leon swung a cross pass to Jean-Gardy Derineau from the left side. Derineau, who was free in front, buried the ball into the net to give the Knights a 1-0 advantage. That would be the lone goal of the session, as Berkeley took a 1-0 lead after 45 minutes of action.
Fisher College came out aggressive once the second half began. The Falcons' Steven Jagba put a free kick on goal, but Vishal Vaswani was unable to capitalize for the home team, as his kick sailed wide of the net, keeping the Knights ahead by a goal. Over the next 20 minutes, Fisher goaltender Eliseu DePina would make some key stops to keep Berkeley at bay.
In the 70th minute, Jean-Gardy Derineau would notch his second goal of the contest to catapult the Knights to a 2-0 advantage. The goal came off of a rebound, as DePina had previously made an excellent save off a shot from Jovani Guzman. The ball trickled out to Derineau, who slashed the ball into the net to give Berkeley some much-needed breathing room.
Perhaps the Falcons' best chance to score came in the final three minutes of action when Leonardo Mildor broke free at the top of the box, but his blast sailed high of the cross bar, keeping it a 2-0 Berkeley lead. That score would remain unchanged, with the Knights holding on for a very impressive opening day triumph.
Sepulveda picked up a shutout in his Knights debut, stopping six shots over the course of the afternoon. Berkeley held a 20-11 edge in the shorts category overall.
Berkeley will return to action on Saturday, September 8, as the Knights will take to the road to battle the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Start-time for that match is scheduled for 1:00pm.
