No. 2 Men's Soccer Wins ECC Championship With 3-2 Victory Over NYIT
Box Score BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. (Oct. 4, 2012) – The No. 2 men's soccer team avenged its only loss of the season and won the 2012 East Coast Conference Championship with a 3-2 victory over New York Institute of Technology on Sunday afternoon on Golden Lions Field.
The Pioneers also set a new high mark for single-season wins as they improve to 18-1 on the season, awaiting the NCAA Regional selections, announced tomorrow at 7 p.m. NYIT goes to 9-7-3 on the season.
Following the game, junior back
Eirik Bjoernoe (Randaberg, Norway) was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
The top-seeded Pioneers struck first against NYIT, who had defeated them earlier this season by a 2-1 final score. In almost an exact replica of Friday's goal, Bjoernoe sent a corner kick in front of goal that
Alex Billington (Preston, England) finished with a header into the right side of the net for a 1-0 lead.
But just before the end of the first half, momentum swung back to the Bears, who knotted the game at one behind Matt DiDonna's header on a rebounded shot that careened off the crossbar.
However, the Pioneers wasted little time after halftime in reclaiming the lead, taking just over five minutes before a foul just past the top of the goal box gave the Pioneers a free kick that junior forward
Cemil Turan (Staten Island, N.Y.) lined into the lower left corner for the lead.
But NYIT again tied the game, as DiDonna scored his second of the day on a through ball into the box, as he dribbled to the left, sliding just out of the reach of a diving
Marco Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) and placing a shot into the far corner in the 63rd minute.
But with just six minutes remaining in regulation, freshman
Matias Ruiz (Southampton, N.Y.) put a hard shot on goal that deflected off NYIT GK Liam Waddy, and Bjoernoe was right there to head the rebound in for what would prove to be the game-winner.
The game was relatively even on the stat sheet as NYIT had a slight 15-13 edge in shots, and took nine corners to four for LIU Post. Jorgensen made six stops for the Pioneers, and Waddy stopped four shots for LIU Post.