In what was a dominant weekend for Berkeley College's men's soccer team, the Knights picked up a pair of road victories, defeating Penn State New Kensington by a score of 4-0 on Friday, before turning around and imposing their will on Penn State Beaver with a 9-0 triumph. With the sweep of the weekend's matches, Berkeley is now 3-1 on the 2024 campaign. New Kensington dipped to 0-2-1 with Friday's defeat, while Beaver fell to 0-3.
In Friday's triumph over New Kensington, newcomer Jason DeJesus scored a pair of goals, with veteran Suad Lukovic adding a goal and an assist. Freshman Gabriel Borges accounted for the other Berkeley College tally. The Knights scored two goals in each half in the victory.
Berkeley registered more than double the amount of shots as the hosts on Friday, registering 24 while New Kensington had 11. Victor Batista and Jack Giannini combined to earn the shutout for the Knights, with Batista logging 64:18 and stopping seven shots, and Giannini playing the final 25:42, making one stop.
New Kensington goalkeeper Kenton Knox took the loss in goal, allowing four to slip by him, but he also stopped 12 shots, as well.
In Saturday's victory over Beaver, the Knights scored just one goal in the opening half (DeJesus in the 24th minute, from Hector Castro), before exploding for a whipping eight goals in a span of 35:44 in the second session). DeJesus and Borges each scored twice in the second session, with Castro, Fabrizio Godos, Elvin Rios, and Simon Noguerol each notching a score. Ian Pallardel registered a whopping four assists in the win.
Berkeley held an incredible 60-9 edge in shots.
Giannini earned the victory in goal for the Knights, logging 67:43 and not allowing a goal while making one stop. Dominik Usau played the final 22:17, yielding no tallies and making one save. Beaver goalkeeper Quentin Wertz allowed all nine goals for the hosts, while also making 24 saves.
Berkeley will return to the pitch on Tuesday, September 10, as the team will play its home opener against Essex County College. The match will take place at Frank D. Zaccaria Memorial Park (Woodland Park, NJ), with a start-time of 4:00pm.
