Men’s Soccer Slays MSMC Knights in Skyline Semi's & Heads to Championship Game

Newburgh, N.Y. – Four different goal scorers found the back of the net for the No. 5 seed St. Joseph's (10-12) men's soccer team as they knocked off top seeded Mt. St. Mary (11-5-2) in the semifinal round of the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament, 4-2.  The victory sends the Golden Eagles back to the Skyline Conference Championship game for the second time in three seasons, with an NCAA Tournament berth and the league crown on the line. 

In the finals, St. Joseph's will face No. 6 Purchase (9-9-1) as the Panthers play host for the Skyline Fall Festival this Saturday at 1:30 p.m.  Purchase defeated No. 2 Sage in double-overtime, 5-4, earlier today in the other semifinal contest.

MSMC got on the board right out of the gate when Michael Ennis took a shot from top of box that bounced off the right post and into the goal at 1:52.

St. Joseph's came back at 19:34 when junior Justin Heredia buried a shot in the box following a deflection for his third tally of the year. 

The Golden Eagles Enrique Tirado took advantage of a ball deep in the box from six yards out to give SJC a 2-1 lead at 25:33.  That was the junior's first score of the season. 

The Knights answered back at 36:59 to knot the game, 2-2, as Matt Garcia took an Ennis pass from the right, dribbled into the box and beat SJC sophomore goalie Avery Gomez to his left side. 

The score remained tied deep into the second half until Golden Eagle Andrew Stasiewicz made it 3-2 at 70:56.  The junior volleyed a shot into the net that had bounced into the box for his third goal of the year.

Adding an insurance tally at 78:03 was senior Chris Hall, who put one in from the right wing for his fifth of the season.

St. Joseph's outshot Mt. St. Mary 13-7 in the contest and had the edge in corner kicks 5-0.

Avery Gomez (10-9) finished with no saves for the Golden Eagles, while Austin Peluso (8-4-2) made two saves for the Knights.

Purchase defeated St. Joseph's in their regular season matchup, 3-1, on September 20 at Purchase.  The Golden Eagles will enter the championship match riding a four-game win streak and have been victorious in six of their last seven contests.