Sports
St. Joseph's Men’s Soccer Advances to Skyline Conference Final
The Golden Eagles defeated Mt. St. Vincent, 4-0, in the semis at home on Wednesday
Patchogue, NY| Behind a two-goal effort by leading scorer Rayneri Ruiz, the second-seeded St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's soccer team defeated the third-seeded College of Mount St. Vincent in the semifinal round of the Skyline Conference Championship at home on Wednesday evening.
The Golden Eagles (8-7-1) advance to the conference final for the first time since 2014 where they'll meet top-seeded Mount St. Mary College.
Ruiz opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, when he pounced on a miscue by the Mt. St. Vincent keeper and finished into an open net.
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The sophomore would later score his 13th goal of the season in the 48th minute to give SJC a 2-0 lead when he wired a shot far post from the right side.
Harnessing early second-half momentum, the Golden Eagles went up 3-0 one minute later with Damian Duda's fifth goal of the year that came via a cross off the foot of Alex Tarach.
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Justin Busto capped off the evening's scoring with an 89th minute goal; his fourth of the season.
St. Joseph's keeper Steven Deng (7-4-1) made six saves in the match and posted his fourth shutout of the season.
In a match that saw SJC outshoot its opponent 19-15, the hosts forced Mt. St. Vincent's starting keeper Padelis Astrinidis into making five saves.
The championship match--the winner of which earns automatic qualification to the NCAA Division III men's soccer tournament---is set for Saturday, November 4 at 3:00 pm in Newburgh, NY. Live stats for the contest will be available here.
Be sure to visit SJCGoldenEagles.com for full St. Joseph's College (L.I.) athletics coverage, and follow us on Twitter (@GoldenEaglesSJC) and Instagram (@SJCGoldenEagles) for up-to-the-minute updates.
