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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 * |
7 | 0 | 1 |
22 | 13 |
2 | 2 | .824 | 41 |
13 | 0 |
| 2 |
CCNY |
5 | 2 | 1 |
16 | 9 |
4 | 2 | .667 | 31 |
28 | 5 |
| 3 |
John Jay |
4 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
5 |
10 | 1 | .344 | 23 |
48 | 0 |
| 4 |
Medgar Evers | 3 |
2 | 3 |
12 | 7 |
7 | 4 | .500 | 41 |
38 | 0 |
| 5 |
Hunter | 3 |
3 | 2 |
11 | 5 |
10 | 3 | .361 | 21 |
48 | 0 |
| 6 |
York | 3 |
3 | 2 |
11 | 5 |
7 | 3 | .433 | 18 |
31 | 0 |
| 7 |
City Tech | 3 |
4 | 1 | 10 |
3 |
7 | 2 | .333 | 15 |
26 | 0 |
| 8 |
Brooklyn | 3 |
5 | 0 |
9 | 6 |
8 | 0 | .429 | 18 |
24 | 0 |
| 9 |
Baruch | 0 |
8 | 0 |
0 | 3 |
13 | 0 | .188 | 22 |
50 | 0 |
* WON CUNYAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE |
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