(yumacs.com) The No. 5 seed Yeshiva University men’s soccer team earned a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the first round of the Skyline Conference Championships over fourth-seeded Mount Saint Mary College, 4-3, at Kaplan Field on Sunday afternoon. Yeshiva will take on the No. 1 seed Manhattanville College Valiants, in the conference semifinal round, on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.
Junior Lucas Baredes propelled YU (8-3-2) to the Skyline first-round win by netting two goals, including the match-winner, which were part of three unanswered tallies scored by Yeshiva after falling behind, 2-1. Mount Saint Mary scored its third goal late in the match to pull to within one, but the Macs were able to hold the Knights off to earn a trip to the Skyline semifinals for the second year in a row.
Senior goalkeeper Benjamin Brener stopped a career-high eight shots for the Maccabees.
Mount Saint Mary (8-6-4) had the heavy advantage in total shots, 20-11, and shots on goal, 11-7, as well as a slight edge in corner kicks, 6-4. Strong goalkeeping from Brener and timely goals by the Maccabees helped them secure a berth in the next round of the conference championships.
“We played a very strong Mount Saint Mary team,” Yeshiva University Head Coach Tobias Esche said. “Both programs are known for their offense and that showed today. The guys overcame the 2-1 deficit to turn it around.”
Yeshiva got on the board early as senior Ethan Fettaya rifled a shot inside the top shelf of the cage from over 15 yards out, during the seventh minute.
The Knights then tilted the field in their favor and kept attacking the net. The home team finally capitalized during the 28th minute as senior Christopher Maggi took a feed from freshman Marco Mazzarelli and lined the ball into the net to tie it up at one goal apiece.
Mount Saint Mary kept sustaining pressure on YU’s defensive end which led to the Macs committing a foul inside the box. The Knights were awarded a penalty kick opportunity and senior Matt Wyant took advantage by kicking the ball past a diving Brener to give Mount Saint Mary the lead, 2-1, with 7:35 left to play in the half.
With less than a minute to go in the period, sophomore David Abittan found Baredes who wedged the ball into the back of the cage to tie the match at two goals each with 19 ticks left on the clock. That would be the score after 45 minutes of play.
Over 20 minutes into the second stanza, senior Alexandre Assouline found junior Josh Ziarno who kicked the ball into the net to allow YU to regain the lead, 3-2, with 24:21 left to play in regulation time. It was Ziarno’s eighth goal of the season.
The Maccabees added insurance in the 77th minute, thanks to Baredes’ second tally of the afternoon to pad YU’s advantage to 4-2 with 23:23 left to play in the second half.
Mount Saint Mary would not go away as Wyant fed the ball to junior Peter Ramirez who snuck it past Brener to pull the Knights to within one, at 4-3, with 5:36 remaining.
With momentum on their side, but with very little time remaining, the Knights had an opportunity to tie it up with just 53 seconds remaining as junior Jaden Nelson lined a shot towards the bottom center portion of the net, but Brener made the key save to keep the Macs ahead. The clock ticked down to zero and Yeshiva secured its second straight berth in the semifinal round of the Skyline Conference Championships. This technically marks the first ever victory for Yeshiva in the conference postseason.
“They got the win to move on,” Esche said. “We take it and get ready for Thursday.”
