The Berkeley College New York men's soccer team picked up a hard-fought victory tonight, defeating the Maccabees of Yeshiva University by a score of 3-2 in overtime. The match took place at Votee Park in Teaneck, New Jersey. With the victory, the Knights improved to a mark of 11-5-1 on the 2018 campaign, while Yeshiva finalized its season at 7-8.
The matched served as a tune-up for Berkeley, as the Knights will be participating in the USCAA Division II National Men's Soccer Tournament later this week (starting Friday).
All goals in this contest came in the second half or later, as neither team was able to break through for a tally in the opening 45 minutes. At 50:00, the Knights struck first when Amadou Sy tapped a pass through to Jean-Gardy Derineau who would score on a breakaway. The goal served as the eighth of the season for the HVIAC All-Conference player, as Berkeley held a 1-0 lead. 16:42 later, veteran Jovani Guzman increased the Knights' advantage to a pair of goals when he tipped in a rebound from inside the box. With a little over 23 minutes remaining in the contest, Berkeley looked poised to begin to pull away in this one.
The Maccabees, though, had another plans. An unassisted goal from Joseph Aron at 68:31 cut Yeshiva's deficit in half at 2-1. Then – with 1:02 remaining in the match – Joseph Grobman netted the equalizer, blasting home a shot during a scramble in the box to tie the match at two apiece. It was the second straight contest that featured Berkeley relinquishing the tying goal in the latter stages.
Once the match advanced to the extra session, Berkeley College would prevail, as Omario Rosen would head-in a pass from Matthew Perreira at 99:15 to win it. It was the second time that Rosen scored an overtime game-winner this season, with the standout also doing it against the College of New Rochelle back on October 3.
Berkeley College out-shot Yeshiva by a final count of 23-14 for the match, while also committing 15 fouls to the Maccabees' nine. The Knights' Dario Cruz Sepulveda stopped five shots in a winning effort, while his counterpart, Edgar Schottland, made 10 saves despite the loss.
The Knights will begin play in the USCAA Tournament this Friday, as Berkeley will take on NHTI at the Princess Anne Sports Complex in Virginia Beach, VA. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 4:45pm.
