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Brooklyn, NY -- Sophomore Agard Radoncic (Monte Negro, Yugoslavia), the Northeast Conference Newcomer-of-the-Year, scored two goals to lead the St. Francis College (New York) Terriers (15-5-1) to a 2-0 victory over the Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils (9-7-3) in the championship match of the Northeast Conference (NEC) Men’s Soccer Championship on Sunday afternoon. The top-seeded Terriers, who became the first top seed to win the NEC title since Robert Morris College in 1994, will advance to an NCAA Play-In match against Jacksonville University, the champions of the Trans America Athletic Conference, next weekend in Jacksonville, Florida.
After a scoreless first half, Radoncic tallied his sixth goal of the season at the 48:35 mark. The scoring play began when senior Mario Bono (Brooklyn, NY) passed to senior Duke Shamo (Accra, Ghana), who fed a perfect ball to Radoncic. Radoncic beat Blue Devil junior Adam Clementson (Newcastle, England) from seven yards away.
Radoncic sealed the victory with 1:25 remaining when he received a ball from senior Dmitri Petrouniak (Congers, NY), the NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player, and scored from 20 yards away on the right side.
Senior Michel Peters (Trinidad, West Indies) made three saves to post his ninth shutout of the season and fifth in the last five matches.
Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament Semifinals
Central Connecticut State 2, Fairleigh Dickinson 1 (2 OT)
Brooklyn, NY -- Senior Paul Wright (Manchester, England/The Manor School) scored two goals, including the match winner with 7:10 remaining in the second overtime period, to lift the second-seeded Central Connecticut State University Blue Devils (9-6-3) to a 2-1 victory over the third-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights (7-11-2) in the first semifinal of the Northeast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship on Friday afternoon. The Blue Devils will advance to Sunday’s championship match (1:00 pm) against the top-seeded St. Francis College (New York) Terriers, who posted a 4-0 victory over the fourth-seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers in the second semifinal.
Wright’s deciding goal came on a chip over the head of Fairleigh Dickinson goalkeeper Simon Goldschmidt (SR, Copenhagen, Denmark/Frederiksberg). Fairleigh Dickinson was unable to answer the goal in the remaining 7:10.
Wright had tied the score with 7:40 remaining in regulation time on a 15-yard left-footed blast past Goldschmidt. That goal was set up by a cross from senior Sean Duzant (New London, CT/New London).
Fairleigh Dickinson had gained a 1-0 lead with 18:27 to play in the second half when sophomore Erez Levi (Ramat-Gan, Israel/Blich) collected a cross from sophomore Shiran Adiri (Herzlia, Israel/Harishonim) and shot from 20 yards away, beating Blue Devil goalkeeper Adam Clementson (Newcastle, England/Monkseaton).
Goldschmidt made nine saves for FDU, while Clementson tallied six saves for the Blue Devils.
Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament Semifinals
St. Francis (NY) 4, UMBC 0
Brooklyn, NY -- Senior Dmitri Petrouniak (Congers, NY) scored three goals to lead the top-seeded St. Francis College (New York) Terriers (14-5-1) to a 4-0 victory over the fourth-seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County Retrievers (11-7-2) in the second semifinal match of the Northeast Conference Men’s Soccer Championship on Friday afternoon. St. Francis will meet second-seeded Central Connecticut State University in Sunday’s championship match, which will be played at the Brooklyn College Soccer Field beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Petrouniak’s three goals raised his career total to 48 and broke Lionel Payan’s long-standing St. Francis College record of 47 career goals which he established from 1973-75.
Following a scoreless first half in which UMBC owned a territorial advantage over St. Francis and outshot the Terriers, 6-3, the Retrievers appeared to draw first blood six minutes into the second half when junior Ty Engram (Phoenix, AZ) beat Terrier goalkeeper Michel Peters (SR, Trinidad, West Indies) from 15 yards away on the left side. However, the apparent goal was disallowed due to an offside call.
The Terriers responded shortly thereafter, as Petrouniak scored off a through-ball by senior Kevin Mooyoung (Cambria Heights, NY) to give St. Francis a lead. Petrouniak then scored his second goal at the 60:59 mark when sophomore Agard Radoncic’s (Monte Negro, Yugoslavia) pass sent him in for a breakaway goal. Petrouniak completed the hat trick at 72:38 on a goal-area scramble.
The Retrievers’ only chance to climb back into the match was thwarted at 80:48, when Peters stopped Andy Wells on a penalty kick. Terrier freshman Adrian Armstrong (Kingston, Jamaica) closed out the scoring with 7:07 remaining in the match.
Peters made five saves for St. Francis to post his eighth shutout, while freshman Tom Wunk tallied three for the Retrievers. |