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Brookville, NY - Long Island University discovered redemption this weekend at the Northeast Conference Men’s Soccer Tournament.
The Sharks survived their second penalty shootout in as many matches to secure the NEC crown and the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA College Cup.
After outlasting Bryant, 5-4, in penalties following a scoreless semifinal on Friday, LIU snuck by defending champion St. Francis Brooklyn with a 6-5 shootout win on Championship Sunday.
Following a 1-1 draw through two extra-time periods, the first 11 kickers all converted from the spot during the penalty tiebreaker.
With SFBK attempting to match LIU in Round 6 and force another round of kicks, Demetri Skoumbakis stepped up and made the title-clinching save for the Sharks.
“I feel like I owed this to my team,” said Skoumbakis, who was named the NEC Tournament MVP. “Last season, I missed a penalty and I let them down. I feel so happy, but our job is not finished.”
LIU’s two NEC Tournament triumphs this weekend come after the Sharks suffered elimination in penalties each of the past two seasons.
“This feels really good. My guys have put in a lot of work, my staff has put in a lot of work and it finally feels like we’ve accomplished something,” said LIU head coach Michael Mordocco.
“My guys fought,” said Mordocco. “We went down a man and we were down a man for at least 35:00 plus overtime, but we dug in and fought and scrapped.”
LIU struck first on Championship Sunday.
With about 30:00 gone by, the Sharks’ Robert Winkler sent a beautiful ball up the field and Assane Ben Fall beat the defender to it. Ben Fall took two dribbles up the left side of the penalty area and sent the ball toward the far post past the SFBK keeper for a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute.
LIU took a 1-0 advantage into the break, but St. Francis Brooklyn leveled the score early in the second half.
Sokol Ymeraj played the ball up to Terriers’ striker El Mahdi Youssoufi on the right side of the penalty area.
Youssoufi, the NEC Player of the Year, squared up for a pretty shot toward the far post and Ivan Tapuskovic was right there to escort the ball into the back of the net in the 49th minute.
Skoumbakis totaled seven saves over 110:00 prior to his heroics in penalties.
NEC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Demtri Skoumbakis, LIU (MVP)
Emil Jaaskelainen, LIU
Assane Ben Fall, LIU
Henry Haferkorn, LIU
Harald Sollund, SFBK
Ivan Tapuskvoic, SFBK
El Mahdi Youssoufi, SFBK
Tommy Murray, BRY
Jack Bacon, BRY
Ideal Shefqeti, FDU
Diego Arribas, FDU