Bears Soccer Scores Two Early Tallies but Fall to Berkeley

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's soccer team drew first blood and held leads on two separate occasions, but Berkeley scored four second-half goals to hand the Bears a 7-2 setback in a Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference matchup on Wednesday evening at Aviator Field.

Berkeley (4-8-2, 4-0-1 HVMAC) moves into a tie atop the league standings with Albany Pharmacy. St. Joseph's (1-7, 1-4 HVMAC) finds themeselves eliminated from HVMAC tournament consideration, with the top four teams qualifying.

The Bears got on the board quickly in the third minute to shock the visitors. Sophomore Raul Urshela (Orlando, FL/Colonial) received a ball at the top of the box from Kyle Johnson (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook Central) and put it just inside the left post leaving the Knights goalie, Gustavo Moreno, defenseless.

Berkeley equalized the contest in 19th minute when Ndiaye Ibrahina knocked a ball into the net after an initial save by Bears goalie Michael Miner (Schenevus, NY/Schenevus).

Unphased, the Bears jumped ahead 2-1 less than a minute later. Johnson and Urshela broke in on goal, the initial shot by Johnson stopped by Moreno coming off his line, but Urshela finished off the rebound.

The Knights took the lead for good with two quick goals in the 31st and 32nd minutes. Ahmet Colak buried a shot underneath the crossbar from inside the box for the equalizer and Abdelwahat Mohamed scored the game winner on a direct free kick from the top of the box around the Bears wall.

St. Joseph's trailed at halftime, 3-2, but couldn't find any scoring opportunities in the second half playing down a man.  Berkeley maintained a 26-0 shot advantage in the second stanza, and scored four goals to pull away from the Bears. Hasan Sezer scored twice in eight minutes and Clas Anton Hakansson and Joachim Moe each added a tally to complete the scoring.

Miner finished with a season-high 16 saves in defeat as the Bears surrendered a 44-7 shot disadvantage.  Gustavo Moreno made three saves to capture the win for the Knights in goal.

St. Joseph's will look to rebound on Friday, October 19 against CUNYAC foe John Jay College. The game will kick off at 2 p.m. at the Metropolitan Oval in Maspeth. NY.