Release courtesy of Berkeley Athletics
The Berkeley College New York men's soccer team picked up its first victory of the 2016 campaign on Wednesday evening, defeating the Webbies of Webb Institute by a score of 7-1 in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest at Aviator Field in Brooklyn, NY. With the victory, the Knights improved to 1-1 on the season (1-0 HVIAC). The game served as the season-opener for Webb Institute, which is 0-1.
For the second consecutive contest to start the season, offense proved to be no problem for the Knights, as Berkeley scored early and often in this one. The Knights' first goal came at the 13:10 mark, when standout Ali Dawha netted broke through the middle before burying a ball home to give his team a 1-0 lead. Newcomers Kenetth Toledo and Trevor Peterson picked up assists on the goal. A little over six minutes later – at 19:20 – Berkeley would increase its edge to 2-0 when Masahiro Kiuchi blasted a ball from 20 yards out that went through the hands of Webb Institute netminder Andrew Pidduck and into the net. 1:01 later, Dawha struck again, scoring a goal off of a pass from Kiuchi to make it 3-0 Berkeley.
Over the ensuing 10:50, the Knights continued to add to their lead, scoring three goals (Essofi Amine scored an unassisted tally at 24:18, Kiuchi added another goal at 30:18 after receiving a beautiful cross pass from Amine, and Dawha recorded his third goal of the game at 32:11 off of a pass from Osondu Esonwune) to push their advantage to 6-0. That would be the score as time expired on the opening session.
In the second half, both teams scored a goal apiece, with Kiuchi scoring his third goal of the contest at the 55:35 mark, and Webb Institute's Harrison Tack breaking the shutout at 86:47.
The Knights' defense played very well all evening, allowing just five Webbies shots for the game – including just two on goal. Berkeley College goaltender Samuel Nortey only had to make one save on the evening, and he would allow just the one late goal.
Berkeley College held a 20-5 edge in the shots category.
The Knights will return to action on Saturday afternoon, as they will take to the road to battle Summit University. Start-time for that contest is scheduled for 3:00pm.
