Men’s Soccer Defeated in SJC Invitational Finale

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| After taking an early lead, the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's soccer team surrendered a 2-1 decision to Kean University in the final game of the annual SJC Invitational Tournament at Danzi Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

With the loss the Golden Eagles slip to 0-4 on the year as the Cougars--who finished second in the tournament--improve to 2-1.

Sophomore Rayneri Ruiz--who's tallied three of St. Joseph's five goals this season--opened the match's scoring in the ninth minute when he headed home a corner kick off the foot of junior Kyle Conway.

Kean's Antoine Gbamou would knot the score up at one in the 36th minute after taking a through ball from Jorge Castro behind the SJC defense and beating keeper Mike Paterson.

Erick Reyes put the Cougars up 2-1two minutes later when he received a feed from Adrian Davila on the on the left side of the box and caught Paterson at the short-side post.

After heading into the break down a goal, the Golden Eagles generated five shots in the second half but could not solve the Kean defense before the full-time whistle.

Paterson, who made his second-straight start in the SJC goal, faced six shots and made four saves in the match. Kean's Bryce Horn made seven saves in a contest that saw his side outshot 13-12.

In the afternoon's early match, William Paterson handed 10-men University of Maine a 3-0 defeat en route to capturing the tournament title. The Pioneers posted a 2-0 record with a plus-five goal differential.

The Golden Eagles look to snap their four-game skid on Wednesday, September 13 when they host Lehman College in a non-conference contest at 7:00 pm. Live video and stats for the match--which takes place at Danzi Stadium--will be available here.