Three Second Half Goals Propel No. 2 Men's Soccer Past St. Thomas Aquinas, 4-1
Box Score BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Sept. 29, 2012) – The No. 2 LIU Post men's soccer team scored three second-half goals to break a 1-1 halftime deadlock and extended its winning streak to nine games, defeating the Saint Thomas Aquinas College Spartans 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in East Coast Conference action.
The Pioneers improve to 9-0 on the season and 4-0 in conference play, just two wins away from matching the 11-game winning streak that last season's team posted to begin the season. The Spartans drop to 2-4-2 and 1-2-1 in ECC play.
The game got off to a fast start, as a pair of freshman teamed up to put the Pioneers on the board in the fifth minute, with
Per Forgaard (Stavanger, Norway) putting a hard shot on goal, where it rebounded away from Spartan goalkeeper Andrew Tartara and right in front of the goal mouth, where
Johan Wallin (Sollentuna, Sweden) tapped it in for a Pioneer lead.
The advantage was short lived, however, as STAC evened the score less than a minute later, as Joseph Conolly sent a cross from the left, finding Brendan Flynn for a one-touch shot past a diving
Marco Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark).
After the scoring flurry, the remainder of the half was a battle, with the Pioneers holding onto an 18-7 shot advantage and forcing Tartara to make nine saves, but the hosts just could not find the equalizer.
The second half was much of the same to begin, but the Pioneers finally saw their onslaught of shots pay dividends when junior
Cemil Turan (Staten Island, N.Y.) played the ball from the left wing into the penalty box, finding senior
Andreas Olson (Oppeid, Norway) who converted with a quick touch into the left corner for a 2-1 lead.
The Pioneers added two more goals to cushion their lead in the 73rd and 76th minute, as Olson played the ball from the right side into the box for graduate student
Bas Beverwijk (Zwolle, Netherlands), who tapped a quick pass to Forgaard, who booted it home. Three minutes later, junior
Eirik Bjoernoe (Randaberg, Norway) sent a screamer from 18-yards out into the back of the net for a 4-1 lead.
The Pioneers outshot the Spartans by a hefty 36-12 count, and took eight corners to STAC's six. Tartara finished the day with 14 saves, while Jorgensen earned the win with four stops.
The Pioneers will look to continue their unbeaten streak with a trip to Mercy for an ECC matchup on October 3 starting at 4 p.m.