(Courtesy of yumacs.com) The Yeshiva University men’s soccer team scored three unanswered goals in the final 21:54 of regulation time to earn a thrilling come-from-behind Skyline win over St. Joseph’s Long Island, 3-2, at the Danzi Center on Sunday afternoon. Yeshiva (4-2, 2-0 Skyline) starts the conference schedule on a strong note, winning the first two Skyline matches. St. Joseph’s Long Island, the runner-up in the Skyline last season, falls to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference contests. This marks the first time the Maccabees have defeated the Golden Eagles in program history.
The hero for Yeshiva was once again freshman forward Jonah Beberman. The Highland Park resident scored a pair of goals in Yeshiva’s rally, including his third game-winner of the season, to lead his team to victory. He now has seven goals so far this season, which sets a program record for most goals by an individual during the first six matches of the season.
“We have been working hard on our confidence and desire as a team,” Yeshiva University head coach J.J. Davidson said. “Today we really needed both and the team did not disappoint. To come back from a 2-0 deficit and earn the first ever win vs. St. Joseph’s Long Island in YU’s history, you need not only great players but players who are strong mentally. I’m so proud of the team and I cannot wait for our next game.”
The Golden Eagles struck first, just shy of the 15th minute, as Rayneri Ruiz took a feed from Damian Duda and guided the ball into the net to give the home team a 1-0 advantage. That would be the score at the intermission.
St. Joseph’s Long Island extended its lead early in the second half, thanks to a goal by Duda in the 48th minute, to put YU in a 2-0 hole.
With Yeshiva down by two goals with 22:00 remaining in regulation, St. Joseph’s was poised to win its conference opener. However, Beberman’s first goal of the contest in the 68th minute, off a feed from senior midfielder Dan Cohen, sliced the Maccabees’ deficit in half. Exactly three minutes later, YU knotted the game up thanks to sophomore forward Zachary Stauber’s second goal in as many matches played. He headed the ball into the back of the cage off a through pass from freshman forward Joseph Aron.
Each team had chances to break the tie, but it was Yeshiva that would cash in, as Beberman gathered the ball from freshman midfielder Marc Ziarno and found the back of the net in the 80th minute, for YU’s first lead of the match.
From that point on, the Golden Eagles applied pressure on the Maccabees’ defense, but a pair of shots by the home team went high during the late stages of the contest. The Macs did not allow the opposition to capitalize on its late surge as Yeshiva went on to earn the key conference victory, 3-2.
For the afternoon, St. Joseph’s had a narrow edge in shots, 14-11, but Yeshiva had more shots on goal, 7-5. The Golden Eagles executed all four of the match’s corner kicks. Freshman goalkeeper Edgar Schottland made three saves to earn the win in net, while his counterpart Tyler Flaherty stopped four shots.
