Brooklyn Falls Short in CUNYAC Final
New York, NY --- The #2 seeded Brooklyn College Men's Soccer team fell short of upsetting top seed Baruch College in the championship final of the 2012 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC)/Applebee's Men's Soccer Championships held at Randall's Island Field #10 on Saturday night. The Bearcats erased an early 2-0 deficit to pull off their 4-2 come-from-behind victory.
Brooklyn set the temp early on, as the Bulldogs shocked the Bearcats with two goals in the first three minutes of action. Junior Peterson Petit Frere accounted for both goals to help fuel Brooklyn's offensive explosion.
The game's opening goal came off of a cross from freshman Steve Orellana into the box, which Frere headed into the back of the net in the 2nd minute. Frere would strike again just one minute later with junior Peter Vavalle assisting on the goal off of a free kick.
The Bearcats would not go down lightly, as Baruch got on the scoreboard in the 17th minute, with Akil George blasting a goal and Povilas Bella assisting on the play, to cut the Bearcats' deficit to 2-1.
The score would hold up the rest of the period, as Brooklyn would head into the intermission break up 2-1. Shots were even in the half, as both teams tallied 10 shots; while Baruch held the corner kick advantage 3-2.
The second half featured a much different Baruch team, as the Bearcats controlled the majority of the second stanza outshooting the Bulldogs 19-6. Baruch's aggressive offense led to three second half goals to complete the Bearcats' 4-2 come-from-behind win.
Kyle Keague would find the equalizer in the 54th minute off of a header with Kolaj Nicholas assisting, to make it an even 2-2 ballgame. Continuing to attack the Brooklyn defense, Christopher Peralta's breakaway goal in the 72nd minute with Oren Kozlowski assisting on the play, gave Baruch its first lead of the night.
The Bearcats would add an insurance goal in the 89th minute, as Kozlowski fed an open Victor Tlepshev to give Baruch a 4-2 advantage.
For the game, the #1 seed Bearcats outshot the Bulldogs 29-16 and also held the corner kick edge 6-3.
Brooklyn keeper junior Stamatis Boundouris played all 90 minutes in goal for the Bulldogs, registering eight saves, while surrendering four goals. His counterpart, Helder Correia also played all 90 minutes finishing with three saves and allowing two goals.
Brooklyn drops to 13-5-2 overall on the season, while Baruch improves to 11-5-3 overall on the year and receives the CUNYAC's automatic bid into the 2012 NCAA Division III National Tournament.
The Bulldogs' season is not completely over, as Brooklyn will await a possible selection into the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Men's Soccer Tournament. Selections will be made on Monday, November 5th.
