Men's Soccer Falls to Vaughn in HVIAC Matchup

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Despite goals from both junior Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) and sophomore Kyle Johnson (Red Hook, N.Y./Red Hook Central), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's soccer team dropped a 7-2 decision to Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) member Vaughn College on Tuesday afternoon at Calvert Vaux Park.

St. Joseph's (1-8, 1-4 HVIAC) has now lost two games in a row and with today's loss have been eliminated from HVIAC Tournament contention while Vaughn (4-5, 3-3) moves into a tie with Sarah Lawrence for the fourth and final spot in the season-ending conference tournament with a matchup against the Gryphons looming on Thursday to decide who earns the final spot.

Despite only playing with nine players, the Bears fought valiantly keeping the Warriors off the scoreboard for nearly the entire first half even though they were outshot 16-5 in the frame.

Vaughn would break the scoreless tie in the 43rd minute when Amir Karim scored his first of five goals on the day taking a cross from David Morales and finding the lower left corner to take a 1-0 lead heading into intermission.

The action picked up in the second stanza as Karim netted his second goal of the game just over three minutes into the action taking a St. Joseph's defensive turnover and putting it in the bottom right corner to build a 2-0 margin.

The Bears broke through less than two minutes later when Johnson took a long throw-in from sophomore Matthew O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and tapped it into the back of the net for his first of the year to close the deficit to 2-1.

St. Joseph's had no answers for Karim as he tallied his hat trick in the 56th minute receiving a throughball from Juan Ramirez and firing it past Bears junior goalkeeper Michael Miner (Schenevus, N.Y./Schenevus) to give Vaughn a 3-1 advantage.

Urshela responded with a goal of his own in the 67th minute, his fourth of the season, taking a rebound off a shot by O'Neill that was originally stopped by Warriors goalkeeper Ahmed Aly and placing it in the goal to get St. Joseph's back in the contest at 3-2.

However, fatigue set in and the Bears defense could not contain Karim as he notched two more goals in just a little over a minute to give Vaughn a 5-2 cushion.

The Warriors added on two more goals in the final ten minutes of action to conclude their scoring for the day.

Vaughn ended the match holding a 35-17 shots advantage.

St. Joseph's offense was led by Urshela who had a team-high six shots on goal while Johnson concluded the day with two shots on goal. O'Neill fired two shots on goal and had two assists to give him a team-high three on the year. Miner made nine saves in net for the Bears.

Karim led the Vaughn attack finishing with a match-high nine shots on goal while Aly made nine saves in picking up the victory.

The Bears return to action this Saturday, October 19th as they take on HVIAC foe Webb Institute at the SJC Outdoor Complex in Patchogue. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m.