#2 Men’s Soccer Advances to Skyline Conference Final
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
#3 Mt. St. Vincent (9-7-2, 7-1-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
#2 St. Joseph's (L.I.) (8-7-1, 7-1-1) | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)
Patchogue, NY| Behind a two-goal effort by leading scorer Rayneri Ruiz, the second-seeded St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's soccer team defeated the third-seeded College of Mount St. Vincent in the semifinal round of the Skyline Conference Championship at home on Wednesday evening.
The Golden Eagles (8-7-1) advance to the conference final for the first time since 2014 where they'll meet top-seeded Mount St. Mary College.
Ruiz opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, when he pounced on a miscue by the Mt. St. Vincent keeper and finished into an open net.
The sophomore would later score his 13th goal of the season in the 48th minute to give SJC a 2-0 lead when he wired a shot far post from the right side.
Harnessing early second-half momentum, the Golden Eagles went up 3-0 one minute later with Damian Duda's fifth goal of the year that came via a cross off the foot of Alex Tarach.
Justin Busto capped off the evening's scoring with an 89th minute goal; his fourth of the season.
St. Joseph's keeper Steven Deng (7-4-1) made six saves in the match and posted his fourth shutout of the season.
In a match that saw SJC outshoot its opponent 19-15, the hosts forced Mt. St. Vincent's starting keeper Padelis Astrinidis into making five saves.
The championship match--the winner of which earns automatic qualification to the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament---is set for Saturday, November 4 at 3:00 pm in Newburgh, NY. Live stats for the contest will be available here.
