The Berkeley College New York men's soccer team proved it wasn't looking ahead to the 2016 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament, as the Knights defeated the Patriots of Valley Forge University this evening at Aviator Field by a score of 3-2. With the win, the Knights improved their mark on the season to 5-9-1 overall, while the Patriots slipped to 7-11 on the year.
In what was a very competitive contest throughout, Berkeley College notched the only goal of the opening session. Offensive standout Osondu Esonwune stole the ball at midfield and sprinted towards the net on a breakaway before blasting a ball past Valley Forge University goalkeeper Aaron Sierra in the 18th minute of play. The Knights held a 14-5 edge in the shots category in the first half, but led only by the one goal after 45 minutes of action.
Neither team would break through for a goal over the first 16 minutes of the second half, but Ali Dawha of Berkeley College would score a goal in the 62nd minute to push the Knights' advantage to 2-0. Later – at 80:02 – Valley Forge University would cut into Berkeley College's lead when Brandon Nyekan received a pass from Trevor Paisley before knocking a ball over the stretched arms of Osvin Videz Vasquez to make it 2-1 in favor of the Knights.
Dawha would give Berkeley College it's two goal advantage back at the 85:47 mark when he collected a pass from Raouf Chouiref before slipping the ball inside the posts to put the Knights ahead 3-1. The Patriots would add a late goal by Hunter Taylor (from Billy Perron) with 1:31 remaining in the match, but the Knights held on for a 3-2 lead.
Berkeley College held a 22-10 edge in the shots department for the night.
The Knights will return to action on Saturday evening, as Berkeley College will enter the 2016 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Berkeley College will face the No. 1 seeded Blue Angels of the College of New Rochelle. Match time is set for 5:00pm on the campus of Albany College of Pharmacy.
