ALBANY, N.Y. – The College of Saint Rose ran its unbeaten streak to three matches after playing to a 1-1 draw this afternoon with visiting American International on Senior Day.
The game between two sides that have already earned postseason berths was balanced on most fronts. The visiting Yellow Jackets (7-5-3/5-4-2 NE10) owned a slight edge in possession by controlling the ball for 51 percent of the contest. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights (10-4-2/6-3-2 NE10) engineered an 11-10 shot advantage and a 9-5 corner kick differential. Each squad drove a pair of strikes on target.
"Today was just a well-played match between two playoff bound teams and a draw was a fair result. We had some good spells of possession, but weren't effective enough in the final third. I give a lot of credit to a well-coached and talented AIC team for their performance. Unfortunately, we couldn't get our Seniors the victory on Senior Day, but I thought many of them played their hearts out," said head coach
John Ciano.
Back Yanis Boucetta, a graduate student, put the Yellow Jackets on the scoreboard first when he headed home a cross from the left flank off the foot of fellow back Adrian Romero with 29:47 expired. Seven minutes later, freshman forward
Hilmar Halldorsson lined a direct kick from 22-yards out that ricocheted off a Yellow Jackets wall and into the far right side of the net.
Saint Rose then generated a 5-3 shot advantage in the second half although AIC almost won it in the final 30 seconds of regulation. Adrian Romero rolled a shot that appeared destined to yield the game winner, but sophomore back
Colin Sherlock cleared it away at the goal line.
Neither side manufactured any real dangerous threats throughout the extra sessions as fatigue on the 45-degree damp pitch appeared to settle in on both sides.
Going forward, both teams play their regular-season finales Wednesday. The Golden Knights head to Long Island to face #2 and defending league champion Adelphi at 7:30 pm. Meanwhile, American International hosts Franklin Pierce at 6:00 pm.
Senior Day: The 2019 Senior Class of
Victor Goncalves-Rocha,
Niv Fogel,
Jaakko Teräsranta,
Gianni Carillo, and
Wari Isaac; were recognized for their outstanding collegiate careers prior to today's match.
Notes: Saint Rose secured an NE10 Championship Tournament berth with Tuesday's victory against Saint Michael's…The postseason gets underway a week from today with quarterfinal action at home sites…In addition, the Golden Knights reached the 10-win mark for the first time in the program's 38-year history…Saint Rose previously posted nine wins in 1989 and 1990, going 9-11 and 9-8 respectively when it was still an NAIA member…Saint Rose is #6 in this week's United Soccer Coaches East Region Poll…Nine different players have found the back of the net this autumn…As a team, Saint Rose is third in the conference with a 1.08 goals-against-average…Halldorsson is now tied for second among the league leaders with his nine goals…Sophomore midfielder
Filippo Bellú; is tied forth tenth with six.
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