Men's Soccer Suffers HVIAC Setback to Culinary

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's soccer team suffered a 6-0 setback to fellow Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) member Culinary Institute of America on Saturday afternoon at Bushwick Inlet Park.

St. Joseph's (1-7, 1-3 HVIAC) fails to build off their first win of the season last Saturday against HVIAC foe King's (N.Y.) while Culinary (7-3, 4-1 HVIAC) has won two games in a row in league play and three games overall.

The game was physical throughout as the two teams combined for 28 fouls, two yellow cards and a red.

The Steels took control of the action from the onset of the match forcing Bears junior goalkeeper Michael Miner (Schenevus, N.Y./Schenevus) to make the first of his 15 saves ten seconds in. Miner made three saves in the first six minutes keeping Culinary off the board. However, the Steels offensive firepower proved too much for the St. Joseph's backline as Dan Landon broke through in the 7th minute heading in a ball off a corner from Jake Epstein that gave Culinary an early 1-0 lead.

Less than five minutes later the Steels tacked on another goal as Ben Baron played a cross from Landon and slid it in the back of the net building a 2-0 edge while leaving the Bears shell-shocked.

After giving up the two early goals, the Bears came back and had some good scoring opportunities with their best scoring chance of the contest coming on a penalty kick by freshman Giuseppe Porretto (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) that hit the post.

However, Culinary turned the pressure up a notch and it paid off in the 35th minute as Bobby Attisano took a Miner save of an Epstein shot and fired it into the net for a 3-0 advantage.

The Steels added a fourth goal in the half on a shot by Epstein and headed into the intermission with a 4-0 lead holding a 20-8 edge in shots.

Culinary picked up where they left off in the second half scoring just over three minutes into the period with Attisano netting his second goal of the contest.

Landon notched his second tally of the game in the 66th minute to conclude the scoring for the Steels.

Culinary ended the match outshooting the Bears 32-13 and had nine corners opposed to the three taken by St. Joseph's

Porretto led the Bears offense recording half of the team's six shots on goal while junior Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) had six shots with one coming on net. Sophomore Matthew O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) contributed three shots of his own.

Landon paced the Steels offense finishing with two goals and three assists on a match-high six shots on net.  Goalkeepers Jonathan Bedell and Nathan Gutcher combined for the shutout making six stops.

St. Joseph's continues their stretch of five straight HVIAC matches as they take on Vaughn College on Tuesday, October 15th at Calvert Vaux Field. Game is set to start at 4:00 p.m.