Night Falls Late for Men's Soccer in Opening Round of Smith Tournament

Patchogue, N. Y. – The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles men's soccer team (1-3) suffered a heartbreaking, 2-1, overtime loss to the Newbury Nighthawks (1-3) in the first round of this year's Gary Smith Invitational Tournament.

In the earlier game, Arcadia University topped FDU-Florham, 2-0.  Arcadia and Newbury will square off in the tournament championship at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

In the first half of the late game, the Golden Eagles came out on fire, dominating in both time-of-possession and shots on net.  SJC was able to outshoot the Nighthawks 10-2. However, both the Golden Eagles and the Nighthawks were unable to find the back of the net after 45 minutes of play.

The first goal of the game came in the 53rd minute when Nighthawk midfielder Rodriquez Pierre converted off an assist from teammate David Linder.

SJC responded quickly to Pierre's goal by scoring an equalizer in the 54^th minute.  Chris Hall's (Mastic, N.Y. / William Floyd) lobbed a pass into the Nighthawk's box and sophomore Brian O'Sullivan (Manorville, N.Y. / Eastport-South Manor) was able to fight off multiple defenders to get under the pass and headed the ball into the back of the net for the tie.

After 90 minutes of play the game remained 1-1 and the teams headed for overtime. However, five-plus minutes of overtime was enough for Newbury's Ricarfens Saintil to score an unassisted goal, which stunned the Golden Eagles and their fans in attendance at Danzi Stadium.

St. Joseph's College will now go on to battle with FDU-Florham (1-2) in the consolation match for third place in the tournament at 1 p.m.