Eagles Draw Even With Purchase

Patchogue, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles (0-10-2) had their best effort of the season in the 1-1 draw against Purchase (5-3-2) on Saturday. Despite outshooting Purchase, 25 to 13, the Eagles couldn't hit the target a second time.

The Golden Eagles got off to a rough start. In the eleventh minute, Myles Chlohessy put home a cross from Enderson Mhilli to give the Panthers an early advantage. The Eagles were relentless, taking 11 shots in the first half but the Purchase keeper was one step ahead of them. Esteban Aguilar saved seven shots to keep his team in front going into halftime. The two teams went back and forth in the second half. Avery Gomez (Bay Shore, N.Y./ Bay Shore) made three stellar saves in the half to keep his team in the game.

One Golden Eagle seemed to want this game more than everyone else on the field. Captain Terrence Dzus (Central Islip, N.Y./Islip) refused to allow his team to go home with a loss. He put four of his five shots on goal including one that was deflected out for a corner. Dzus went up and drilled a header into the bottom left corner but before the ball made it fully across the goal line, the Panthers pounced on it and cleared the ball down the field.

In the final three minutes, Aguilar made two spectacular saves on shots by Fabio Alves (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) and Emil Sadowski (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) that would seemingly give Purchase the win. Eighteen shots by the Golden Eagles could not produce an equalizing goal. With 34 seconds remaining, Daniel Soranno (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) would give the Eagles one more chance. He put a cross into the middle of the box that found the head of Dzus. This time, Dzus would not be denied as he drilled a header into the back of the net to put the large Saturday morning crowd and the Eagles bench into a frenzy. The two overtime periods did not produce a game winner for either side.

St. Joseph's will travel to Yonkers, N.Y. to take on Yeshiva, Wednesday at 8 P.M.