Release courtesy of Sarah Lawrence College Athletics
YONKERS, N.Y.—Gryphons Rodrigo Cuenca (San Diego, Calif./La Jolla Country Day) and Ishaan Pujari (Bangalore, India/Inventure Academy) each tallied a pair of goals, as Sarah Lawrence College men's soccer defeated St. Joseph's College Brooklyn, 4-1, in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Tibbetts Brook Park on Wednesday.
Sarah Lawrence (3-6, 3-2 HVIAC) struck first blood in the 21st minute. Cuenca notched his second goal of the season with a well-placed free kick that found the bottom corner of the net.
The lead was extended late in the first half, when Rodrigo Cuenca (San Diego, Calif./La Jolla Country Day) and Aman Banerji (New Delhi, India/The Shri Ram School) fed a chain-reaction pass through the middle to Banerji on the front line. The junior had no trouble netting his team-high sixth goal of the season and the eventual game-winning goal.
Just 78 seconds into the second half, Pujari struck again. On a goal kick that was misplayed by the Bears defense, Pujari found himself on a breakaway and scored his second goal of the game.
St. Joseph's Brooklyn (0-6, 0-2 HVIAC) was not easily discouraged, and less than a minute later, Giuseppe Porretto launched a high bending shot that crossed the goal and found the bottom right corner to cut the gap to 3-1. The Bears kept up the pressure and tallied a dozen shots in the game.
SLC improved their cushion in the 81st minute, when Cuenca capitalized on a corner-kick opportunity by dribbling into the 6 yard box and pounding a shot just inside the left post for his third goal of the season.
Pujari and Cuenca combined for 16 of the Gryphons' 25 shots, while Roland Wynter (New York, N.Y./Lower Manhattan Arts Academy) tallied three shots, and Tahmid Munat (Dhaka, Bangladesh/Notre Dame) added a pair.
In goal, SLC keeper Elliott Warkus (Waimea, Hawai'i/Parker School) notched two saves on the day, while replacement keeper Aaron Baker stopped seven shots for the Bears.
Sarah Lawrence returns to action on Monday, when the team hosts Medgar Evers College at Tibbetts Brook Park at 7 p.m.
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Release courtesy of St. Joseph's College Athletics
YONKERS, N.Y. – Despite the first collegiate goal by freshman Giuseppe Porretto (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's soccer team suffered a 4-1 setback to Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) member Sarah Lawrence on Wednesday night at Tibbetts Brook Park.
St. Joseph's (0-6, 0-2) remains winless on the season while Sarah Lawrence (3-6, 3-2) moves over .500 in league play and has won two games in a row.
The first ten minutes of action saw both teams feeling each other out with no real scoring opportunities but come the 11th minute the action picked up as Porretto had two great scoring chances but was unable to connect sending two shots high.
The Gryphons would break the scoreless tie in the 21st minute on a goal by Rodrigo Cuenca off a free kick that found its way past Bears freshman goalkeeper Aaron Baker(New York, N.Y./Martin Luther King Jr. HS (GA)) who was making his collegiate debut in net.
The action went back and forth with each team having scoring opportunities until just before halftime when Sarah Lawrence tacked on another goal in the 40th minute to give themselves a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
The beginning of the second stanza was a chaotic period of the game as the Gryphons scored a third goal less than two minutes into the action off a breakaway to build a 3-0 lead. However, the Bears responded 54 seconds later when Porretto fired a high shot that found its way past the Sarah Lawrence goalkeeper to cut the deficit to 3-1.
St. Joseph's picked up their intensity but were unable to breakthrough with another goal and the Gryphons took advantage scoring in the 81st minute to build an insurmountable 4-1 lead.
Baker impressed in his debut in net finishing with seven saves in taking the loss.
Porretto finished the game with five shots while senior Adam Comollo (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery HS) and sophomore Matthew O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) each recorded three shots apiece.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, October 5th taking on HVIAC foe King's (N.Y.) at Brooklyn Technical High School at 1 p.m.
