Men's Soccer Advances to Finals with Win Over Poly

Patchogue, N.Y.—The top seeded St. Joseph's College Golden Eagles (12-9) triumphed 4-2 over the #4 NYU-Polytechnic Fighting Blue Jays (9-11-1) in their Skyline Conference Tournament Semifinal match at Danzi Stadium.  St. Joseph's will now face #3 Mt. St. Mary on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the tournament finals.  The winner will advance to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.

The Eagles came out of the gate strong against the Blue Jays, pushing the ball offensively and maintaining possession but they were unable to put the ball in the back of the net until late in the first half.   

John Dettori (Bay Shore, N.Y./ Bay Shore) took over at 34:14 scoring off of a cross into the middle of the six from Fabio Alves (Holbrook, N.Y./ Sachem East).  A little over a minute later Dettori struck again, sending a goal right past the goalie off of a through ball to the top of the 18' from Craig Ceruti (Shoreham, N.Y./ Shoreham-Wading River).

SJC didn't give Poly much time to catch their breath; at 38:17 Ceruti rocketed the last goal of the half past the keeper off of a rebounded shot, putting the Eagles up 3-0.

The score remained unchanged early in the second half; St. Joseph's rotated in some fresh legs off of the bench while Polytechnic's offensive efforts were unproductive.  As the clock ticked down the Blue Jays developed a sense of urgency and at 77:25 Nick Michalczewski found the back of the net with a header, sending the ball over SJC goalkeeper Chris Muhs' (West Babylon, N.Y./ West Babylon) hands.

Poly took advantage of the newfound momentum with another goal off of a rebounded shot less than ten minutes later.  

With the gap in the score quickly closing, Alves stepped up and clinched SJC's lead with a fast break past the goalie off of an assist by Brendan O'Brien (Mount Sinai, N.Y./ Mount Sinai).

(Game story by Caitlynn Webber)