For the second consecutive season, the Berkeley College men's soccer team has captured the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title, this past weekend defeating Word of Life in the semifinals by a score of 6-3 (11/4), before outlasting Five Towns College the following day (11/5) in penalty kicks to win it all. The victories improved the Knights to a record of 15-2 on the 2023 campaign, and helped Berkeley accomplish another one of the goals it had set out for this season. Following the tournament, Head Coach Bruno Ferreira spoke.
"Coming into this 2023 season, we had a number of goals that we wanted to accomplish, and winning a second consecutive Regional crown was one of them," Ferreira said. "Our guys did a fantastic job dealing with adversity this weekend. When we found ourselves in a tight spot against Word of Life with the match tied 1-1, we responded. The following day, we trailed the No. 1 seed in the tournament 2-0 with 20 minutes remaining, but our student-athletes never lost faith. They battled back and outlasted Five Towns to win it all. Now we will set our sights on the USCAA Division II National Tournament, where we feel we have some unfinished business. We are all excited about the prospects of competing for a national crown again, and these guys are eagerly awaiting the official word from the USCAA. In the meantime, we'll bask in this moment for a few days and enjoy what we accomplished as a team."
This past Saturday in the HVIAC tournament semifinals, the No. 2 seeded Knights took on the host school and No. 3 seeded Word of Life Huskies. Berkeley took a 1-0 advantage in the 16th minute of play when Marco DaSilva slipped home a pass from Esteban Pedrueza to make it 1-0 Knights. 32 seconds later, Word of Life responded when Cyleek Zaimoff put home Calem Mason's pass to knot the match at a goal apiece.
Berkeley would re-take the lead in the 37th minute (36:52) when standout Ian Pallardel would score the go-ahead goal (from Allan Luna) to put the Knights ahead 2-1. That would be the final goal of the opening session, as Berkeley held a slim one goal at edge at halftime.
In the second session, the Knights broke the match open with four goals in a span of 13:43. Lucas Zuleta (53:51, from Suad Lukovic), DaSilva (59:45, from Samuel Gomez), Eddie Becirovic (61:25, from Pedrueza), and Fabrizio Sousa (67:34, from Pedrueza) accounted for the four goals. Word of Life would score a pair of garbage-time goals, with Joseph Matthews slipping a pair of goals past backup Berkeley netminder Jose Hurtado at 80:52 and 87:26.
Victor Batista picked up the victory between the pipes for Berkeley, allowing just one goal while making four saves in 67:34 of action. His counterpart, Seth Randall, took the loss for the Huskies, yielding six goals while making five saves.
For the match, Berkeley College held a 21-10 edge in the shots category, while also earning 10 corner kick opportunities compared to two for the Huskies.
A day later, in perhaps one of the wildest HVIAC men's soccer title matches of all-time, Berkeley rallied from a late 2-0 deficit to win in penalty kicks. Five Towns College scored the first two goals, including an unassisted tally by Sebastian Cuenca (33:32), and another score from Angel Chavez (49:41 from Cuenca). Berkeley got on the board with a goal by DaSilva (from Pallardel) at 70:54 to slice its deficit to one, 2-1, with 19:06 left.
Later, with just 9:09 left in the match, Pallardel netted the equalizer, capitalizing on a gorgeous lead pass from Pedrueza to knot the match at two goals apiece. Exactly three minutes later, Pedrueza drew a foul in the box, and promptly converted on a penalty kick opportunity to catapult the Knights to a 3-2 advantage. Five Towns refused to go quietly, however, as Juan Lopez netted an unassisted goal at 84:05 to tie the match, 3-3. That would be the final goal scored of regulation, as the match headed for extra sessions.
2:20 into the first overtime, Pedrueza would once again draw a foul in the box. Just as he did in regulation, he would cash in on the opportunity, scoring a goal to make it 4-3 Knights. That would be the lone goal scored of the first overtime period. In the second overtime session, with just 4:03 remaining, Five Towns' Cuenca would score his second goal of the match, knotting the championship contest at four goals apiece. Neither team would score for the remainder of the second overtime, sending the match to penalty kicks.
In penalty kicks, seven of Berkeley's nine shooters scored, including Lukovic, Alan Martinez, Pedrueza, Pallardel, Zuleta, Agustin Nunez, and Fabrizio Godos. Five Towns College, though, had two opportunities to win the championship, but penalty kicks by Angel Chavez and Jorge Lliguizaca were both saved by Batista. In addition, Gomez's final penalty kick opportunity was also turned away by Batista, sending the Berkeley College bench into a frenzy, with the Knights winning their second HVIAC crown in as many seasons.
For the game, in addition to the three impressive saves during penalty kicks, Bastista also made five saves in 110 minutes of action, despite allowing four goals. His counterpart, Steven Paguada, made two saves during penalty kicks, and eight during regulation and the two overtime periods, despite allowing four goals.
Berkeley held a commanding 27-13 edge in the shots category. Five Towns held a slim 7-6 edge in corner kick opportunities.
The Knights will now eagerly await word of their potential trip to Pittsburgh, PA to compete in the USCAA Division II Soccer National Championship. The selection show is set for Wednesday, November 8 at 4:00pm, and can be viewed at www.theuscaa.com!
