Release courtesy of Berkeley College Athletics
The Berkeley College New York men's soccer team ran off its sixth consecutive victory on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Falcons of Davis College by a score of 7-0 in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game played at the College of Staten Island Soccer Complex in Willowbrook, NY. With the victory, the Knights are now 6-1 on the 2015 campaign, including a 3-0 record in conference competition, while Davis fell to 2-5 overall (0-3 HVIAC).
The Knights scored their first goal of the afternoon when standout Harold Akawor collected a rebound and blasted a ball into the left corner of the net from eight yards out to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute (18:39). 4:45 later, newcomer Kengo Sato cashed in on a free-kick opportunity, curling a ball into the lower right corner of the net from 30 yards (at 23:24) out to push Berkeley's advantage to 2-0. A pair of Solomon Ahanaonu tallies later in the session put the Knights ahead a 4-0, a lead they would take with them into the second half.
In the second session, Berkeley continued to add to its lead to put the game away. VeteranJohan Hildingsson received a beautiful pass from Sato down the left channel which he buried from 16 yards out to give his team a 5-0 edge. Tallies by Salim Drammeh (at 81:12 off of a pass from Essofi Amine) and Amine (at 86:01 off of a pass from Marotta) rounded out the scoring for the red-hot Knights. Following the victory, Head Coach Stavros Zomopoulos gave his thoughts.
"Our goal is to win as many games as possible, while improving as a team in the process," Zomopoulos said. "We had many different contributors today, and that is always an encouraging thing to witness as a coach. Our next nine games are on the road against some very competitive schools, so we certainly will face many litmus tests before the conference tournament."
Mathias Valle played the first half in net for Berkeley. He didn't allow a goal or face a shot. He was relieved byDaniel Flores in the second session, as Flores logged 45 minutes and made one save while not yielding a goal. Falcons netminder Josh Martin recorded five saves despite the loss.
Berkeley College held a 27-4 edge in the shots category. The Knights were whistled for 14 fouls on the day compared to 10 for the Falcons.
The Knights will return to action on Wednesday afternoon, as Berkeley will take to the road to battle the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 4:00pm.
