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2003 CUNYAC Men's Soccer Championship

CCNY Captures CUNY Men's Soccer Championship;
Earn School's First Ever NCAA Bid In Sport

Staten Island, NY - No. 2 seeded City College of New York blanked No. 5 seeded Hunter, 2-0, to capture the 2003 City University of New York Athletic Conference men's soccer championship, Saturday afternoon at College of Staten Island. The victory gave the Beavers their first-ever NCAA Tournament birth in men's soccer and their first CUNY championship since 1993.

"I'm so happy for our players and for this school,” said City head coach Osborne Carter. "This is a great accomplishment for them. The CUNY championship was our goal from the beginning of the season, and today we were able to achieve it. I certainly think that we belong in the NCAA Tournament. We will give it our best shot on Wednesday, no matter who we play.”

On a bitter cold and windy day, Hunter gave City all that they could handle as the Beavers were unable to put the pesky Hawks away until the closing stages of the contest. The Beavers opened the scoring in the 20th minute on a goal by freshman defender Richard Lopez (Queens, NY). Following a deflection, Lopez controlled a loose ball in the box and fired a hard grounder into the lower right corner of the net, beating Hawk's senior keeper Daniel Djura (Ridgewood, NY) from ten yards out.

City had numerous opportunities to add to their lead as they dominated most of the first half. However, the Beavers led just 1- 0 at halftime. "I never felt comfortable today,” Carter admitted. "Although I felt that we were the better team, Hunter certainly gave us something to think about in the second half with the way they played. They put up a very good fight and we were fortunate enough to hold on for the win. We certainly had our opportunities to put the game out of reach but could not do so until the very end.”

Hunter missed a golden opportunity to even the score at 1-1 in the 71st minute of action as Hawk's senior defender Baffour Acheampong (Kumasi, Ghana) narrowly misfired on an off-balance attempt from point-blank range, pushing the ball past the left post.

City junior midfielder Santiago Helman (Queens, NY) set-up the Beavers second goal of the game in the 85th minute, as he served a twenty-yard lob from the left sideline directly onto the foot of freshman Vinceslas Colas (Brooklyn, NY), who was streaking down the right side of the pitch. Colas settled Helman's high-arching pass, took a dribble, and then tapped the ball past Djura, who had taken a step towards Colas.

Colas was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament after scoring a goal in all three games, including the game-winners against New York City College of Technology (quarterfinals) and York (semifinals).

"I never imagined that I would be the MVP of the tournament,” Colas said. " I was a bench player at the beginning of the season. I got in better shape as the season went along and became a starter on a championship team. "This is a great feeling,” Colas said.

Each team took eight shots in the contest. CCNY freshman keeper Neal Khalid Salim (Westchester, NY) made six saves to earn the victory.
 

2003 CUNYAC Men's Soccer Standings

Week 8 CONFERENCE OVERALL a
 #  School W L T Pts. W L T Pct. GF GA Unbeaten
Streak
1   Staten Island * 70 1 2213 2 2.824 41 130
2   CCNY 52 1 169 42.66731 285
3   John Jay 44012 5 101.34423 480
4   Medgar Evers3 23 127 74.50041 380
5   Hunter3 32 115 103.36121 480
6   York3 32 115 73.43318 310
7   City Tech3 4110 3 72.33315 260
8   Brooklyn3 50 96 80.42918 240
9   Baruch0 80 0 3 130.18822 500

* WON CUNYAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE         

2003 Results:  Schedule & Results   Statistics   Semifinals   Quarterfinals   Championship-Preview   Oct.27   Oct.20   Oct.14    Oct.7  Sept.29  Sept.22  Sept.15  2003-Preview

2000 Championship  2001 Championship 2002 Championship
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