2002 CUNYAC / Brine Community College Men's Soccer Championship

BRONX SQUEEZES OUT A 1-0 WIN OVER BMCC

Brooklyn, NY - In a very tightly played and physical game, Bronx won the 2002 CUNY Athletic Conference / Brine Community College Men's Soccer Championship at Kingsborough with a 1-0 victory over Borough of ManhattaN. Bronx earned the school's first CUNYAC men's soccer title since 1999.

Despite being outplayed on the offensive end, Bronx (2-0) earned the lone tally when Orville Hall headed in a corner kick cross from Mustapha Njie in the 70th minute. But the star of the game was Broncos' goalkeeper Andrew Buckle, who had two great saves in the first half to preserve the scoreless tie and seven saves overall to earn the Tournament Most Valuable Player award.
 
"Andy's so solid in the back he relaxes the team," said first-year Bronx head coach Lew Lattari. "He was the difference in the game today."

Early in the second stanza, in perhaps the team's best opportunity to score, BMCC's Messauod Ouechtati had a one-on-one chance versus Buckle, but his attempted chip shot was deflected over the crossbar.

"I knew that it would be a one goal game," said Buckle. "We withstood every challenge today. The entire defense was sharp." As for winning the MVP, Buckle said, "I've never won an award like this as long as I'm playing soccer. I just wish there was another trophy for the defense."
BMCC (1-1), the two-time defending champions, also received a solid performance in goal by Afrim Lajci, who had seven saves on the day.

"I was very impressed with their level of organization this early in the year," said Panther head coach Kenni Yatsuhashi about his opponent. "It was an extremely exciting game, we just couldn't put the ball in the net today."

In the consolation game, Kingsborough, the host school started running away with the game, leading 2-0 at the half and 4-0 by the 73rd minute, before Queensborough (1-1) stormed back with three goals in a nine minute span including two tallies by Sergio Lopez. But Khalil Dietrich, who assisted on the Wave's first two goals, scored the game-breaker in the 88th minute to clinch third place for KCC (2-1) and a 5-3 win.