Men's Soccer Held Off by Lehman College in Home Opener

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) fell behind early and couldn't capitalize on an early equalizer from newcomer Cesar Oviedo falling 3-1 to Lehman College in a tightly-contested, hard-fought non-conference home opener at Aviator Field on Saturday afternoon.

How it Happened

• Lehman took advantage of their first good scoring opportunity when an initial shot by Bijean Johnson was saved by Nolan Parr, the rebound shot attempt from Gentian Muhaxheri hit square off the left post and the rebound ricocheting off a retreating SJC defender into the back of the net.
• Despite the momentum still in Lehman's favor, the Bears found the equalizer five minutes later when sophomore Cesar Oviedo buried a bouncing loose ball in the box.
• The game remained deadlocked for over 20 minutes until Lehman earned a penalty kick drawing a foul on the right edge of the box and Brandon Ruiz converting to give the Lightning the lead for good.
• Despite holding a 7-5 advantage in shots and 3-0 edge in corners in the opening 45, the Bears trailed 2-1 at the intermission.
• Lehman drew their second penalty kick of the game in the 67th minute but couldn't convert shooting high over the net.
• With the score remaining 2-1 for most of the second half, St. Joseph's had a great equalizing opportunity with eight minutes left when Matthias Spiegel chipped a ball over to Beka Goduadze who headed the ball towards the empty half of the goal but hitting the underside of the crossbar and nearly crossing the goal line.
• Lehman sealed the victory with a goal in the 89th minute when Bijean Johnson broke through the defense and slid a ball past Parr.

For the Bears (0-2)

• Cesar Oviedo and Matthias Spiegel finished with three shots apiece to lead the attack and Oviedo putting two shots on frame.
• Oviedo's goal was his first collegiate goal.
• Beka Goduadze also fired two shots as the Bears finished with 10 shots in total.

For the Lightning (3-1)

• Brandon Ruiz and Bijean Johnson both netted one goal apiece on three shot attempts.
• Irvin Barreto earned the win in net making two saves to improve to 3-0 on the season.
• The Lightning held a 13-10 shot advantage.

The Bear Facts

• This was the closest game in three meetings in the all-time series, with the Lightning taking convincing victories in the last two encounters in 2011 and 2013.

Next Up for the Bears

St. Joseph's will seek their first win of the season facing another CUNYAC foe in York College on Wednesday, September 16 in their final tuneup before opening Skyline Conference play. The game will kickoff at 8 p.m. capping off a doubleheader with the women who host Mount Saint Mary at 6 p.m. Live stats for both games can be found on SJCBears.com.