Release courtesy of ACPHS Athletics
The Panthers opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and never looked back, beating the Culinary Institute of America Steels 4-1 on Monday night. With the victory, ACPHS remains first in the HVIAC at 4-1 and goes to 5-3 overall on the season. Culinary drops to 2-2 in the league and 2-6 overall.
The game started with the Panthers absorbing a lot of pressure from the Steels who recorded the first three shots on goal. The shots, though not overly threatening, were all saved well by junior goalkeeper Matt Houlihan (Levittown, NY / Kellenberg Memorial High School). The Panthers got the scoring going in the 22nd minute, when freshmanEdward Ahanmisi picked up the ball deep in the opposition's half. He put a high-looping ball into the box that seniorZak Giorgi (Whitesboro, NY / Whitesboro High School) attacked with the side of his foot and placed in the far-left corner to score in his second game in a row.
ACPHS got their second when Giorgi was fed behind the Culinary defense by fellow senior Connor Laughlin (Cohoes, NY / Cohoes High School). Girogi found his striker, junior Mina Girgis (Canyon Country, CA / John Burroughs HS) about 12 yards from goal. Girgis shielded off one defender, and slipped the ball through another's legs to put himself one-on-one with Culinary goalie Nathan Gutcher. Girgis rolled the ball inside the near post for a 2-0 lead and his fifth goal of the year.
In the second half, the Panthers' sophomore Bryce Berchulski (Somersworth, NH / Somersworth High School) scored his second of the year off of an assist from Girgis and freshman Austin Myers (Morrisonville, NY / Saranac High) to give ACPHS a three-goal lead. Giorgi iced the game off with his tenth of the year in the 64th minute after juniorKyle Jenkins (Holbrook, NY / Sachem East High School) beat two defenders and sent a cross in right on Giorgi's head. Up 4-0, the Panthers conceded in the 79th minute to Maxwell Morhmann and the game finished 4-1. Houlihan had five saves in the victory, while ACPHS scored on four of their seven shots on target.
The Panthers go for their fifth straight victory on Thursday, September 27th when they take on Hudson Valley Community College at home at 7pm. Culinary takes on Berkeley this Saturday, October 1st at 6pm.
