Men’s Soccer Storms Past Farmingdale, Earns First-Round Bye in Skyline Championship

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's soccer team clinched a first-round bye with a 7-0 victory over Farmingdale State in the regular season's final match on Wednesday evening.

The Golden Eagles (7-7-1) finish the season with a 7-1-1 Skyline Conference record and enter the championship tournament as the second seed. Farmingdale (7-8-0, 3-6-0 Skyline) was eliminated from playoff contention.

SJC struck early and often with tallies coming in the 3rd (Alex Tarach), 17th (Damian Duda) and 37th (Shayne Johnson) minutes to ensure the hosts took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Rayneri Ruiz scored his team-leading 11th goal of the season in the 54th minute and Kyle Conway notched his first of the year 32 seconds later to extend SJC's lead to five early in the second half.

Justin Busto and Chance Casey each scored their third goals of the season in the 58th and 73rd minutes to wrap the evening's scoring.

Ruiz, who also picked up two assists, led all Golden Eagles with four points on the night.

Steven Deng (6-4-1) made two saves and recorded his fourth shutout of the season. St. Joseph's outshot Farmingdale 20-7 and forced their tandem of keepers into making four saves in total.

Based on results elsewhere, the Golden Eagles bypass the first round of the conference championship and earn an automatic bid into the semifinal round of the tournament. They'll host the winner of the SUNY Purchase/College of Mount St. Vincent first round match-up on Wednesday (Nov. 1) at 7:00 pm.