Men's Soccer Ends 2013 Season With Loss to Yeshiva

TEANECK, N.J. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's soccer team concluded their 2013 campaign with a 6-0 loss to Yeshiva University on Sunday night at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

St. Joseph's (3-11) concludes their third varsity season with the same win total as a year ago while Yeshiva (4-12) has now won two games in a row and reached the four win mark for the first time since 2009.

The contest was physical throughout as the two teams combined for 32 fouls, six yellow cards and two red cards with the Bears playing down two men for the last 28 minutes of the game.

The two teams began the match going toe-to-toe with each other as both teams had scoring chances in the early minutes of the contest but neither team was able to break through as both goalkeepers denied any scoring opportunities.

The Maccabees broke the scoreless tie in the 22nd minute of action as Itamar Ben David fired a shot past Bears junior goalkeeper Michael Miner (Schenevus, N.Y./Schenevus) to put Yeshiva up 1-0.

Less than four minutes later the Maccabees tacked on their second goal of the half as Daniel Benchimol scored the first of his two goals on the night off a pass from Ben David to give Yeshiva a 2-0 advantage.  

Despite being outshot 12-3 in the first half St. Joseph's headed into the break down only 2-0 as Miner made seven saves in the opening frame to keep the Bears within distance.

The Maccabees came out in the second half and overwhelmed St. Joseph's right from the beginning as they scored just over five minutes into the half to put Yeshiva up 3-0.

Rafi Friedman added to the Maccabees total in the 61st minute as he took a pass from Ben David to give Yeshiva a commanding 4-0 margin.

The Maccabees would tack on two more goals as St. Joseph's could not keep up with them playing down two men.

Miner helped limit the damage by making 18 impressive saves in net including 11 in the second half as Yeshiva held a 19-4 advantage in shots during the period.

Five different Bears recorded a shot on goal led by junior Raul Urshela (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) who had two shots. Sophomores Kyle Johnson (Red Hook, N.Y./Red Hook Central), Matthew O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and Nolan Parr (Red Hook, N.Y./Red Hook Central) along with freshman Wilson Fajardo (Brooklyn, N.Y./Northside Charter HS) recorded the other four shots on goal.

The Maccabees used a balanced offensive attack as five different players scored led by Daniel Benchimol who tallied two on the night and had a game-high nine shots. Ben David concluded his night with four shots on goal and notched three assists to go along with his goal. Goalkeeper Joseph Blechner made five saves in recording the shutout.