The NYU men’s soccer team won their third consecutive game in three days on Sunday at Gaelic Park and claimed the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Metro Championship.
Three consecutive victories came against the Richard Stockton College Ospreys, the College of Staten Island Dolphins and Ramapo College Roadrunners after five consecutive regular season losses. Three were University Athletic Association conference matches.
The quarterfinal match ended in a 3-1 victory for the then fourth-seeded Violets against the Roadrunners. Three goals where scored by sophomore midfielder Nimo Freitag Bergstroem, junior midfielder Chris Ramirez and senior forward Paolo Luciano. Senior goalie Jonas Poster, who was only beaten once, also had a great performance with five stops.
“It has been a great tournament for us,” said head coach Joe Behan.
In the semifinals, senior star forward Kyle Green lifted the Violets to a 2-0 victory over the Dolphins, scoring the Violets’ first goal with about three minutes remaining. This goal put Green, who has 75 points in total, in third place for all-time NYU career points. Sophomore forward Billy Cordova closed up the match by scoring with about 15 seconds remaining.
The finals victory at Sunday’s championship avenged a difficult 1-2 overtime loss to the Ospreys in the regular season for the men, defeating them 4-2 in penalty kicks after a 1-1 regular time tie. The match was scoreless until the Ospreys opened the scoreboard close to the 60 minute mark. Cordova tied the match in a dramatic fashion, scoring with less than five minutes remaining in the game off a center pass from junior defender Danny Weisbaum. In the event of a tie, the game went on to 20 minutes of overtime after which it was time for penalty kickout.
“It’s always great to score a goal in a championship game,” said Cordova, the sole NYU scorer. “I am glad we got to win it for the seniors.”
Senior captain midfielder Niki Chow, sophomore midfielder Mac Yumoto, Green and Cordova all hit their attempts in the penalty shootout. Two of Richard Stockton’s players had their shots fly over the goal.
“I feel really lucky to get a second chance and to end the season on a high note as champs. I am blessed to be with this special team that was beat up and tired at this point in the season and dug deep to win the ECAC,” said Green, who was named the
tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
This was the final game for the NYU men’s soccer team with five players ending their college careers, including goalie Jonas Poster, forward Paolo Luciano, midfielder Ryan Horch, Chow and Green.
“We recognize that we underperformed this season, and we’ll work hard during the offseason to improve for next season,” junior defender Juan Velez said.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Nov. 12 print edition. Francisco Navas is a staff writer. Email him at [email protected].
In the previous version of this article, WSN incorrectly reported that Ospreys opened the scoreboard close to the 60 second mark. In fact, it was the 60 minute mark. WSN regrets the error.