Poughkeepsie, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz Men's Soccer team secured a big win on road against cross-town rival Vassar College Wednesday.
The Hawks secured another win adding to their 3-0-1 record, defeating the Brewers in a 1-0 game. "A ready hard-fought game today by the team," said SUNY New Paltz Coach Kyle Clancy. "Vassar is a quality side and came out flying and we had to weather the storm."
Throughout the 90 minutes, Vassar had many scoring opportunities, including 12 shots, with six of them being on goal. SUNY New Paltz goalkeeper Christian Micheli kept the Brewers at bay with six saves and denied opportunities on all seven corner kicks from Vassar. "Christian kept us in the game with some incredible saves in the first half — none better then a massive double save midway through," Clancy noted. After tying the Union Garnet Chargers in their previous match, the Hawks also were aggressive on the offensive front, having eight shots with six on net.
The match was nearly a scoring drought, both teams unsuccessful in scoring, until the 84th minute when forward Brandon Davenport found the back of the net off an assist by Joseph DiPreta, launching the ball into the top right corner from inside the 18-yard box. The Brewers could not put one in in time, and in the end, the Hawks came out with the victory by a single-goal margin.
"We started to collect ourselves as the half went on and had a few quality chances and were happy to go into half tied 0-0. We came out much better second half and showed great energy, better defensive organization and did a better job winning second balls and switching against their press, which was good," said Clancy. "We were finally able to put one away late in the game with a Brandon Davenport goal off a set piece delivery by Joey DiPreta. We finished with a strong defensive effort and earned a great win against a great side. First time we beat them away since 2009."
The team will return to the pitch Saturday where they will go on the road to face Skidmore College at 1 p.m., hoping to defeat the Thoroughbreds to build on their successful early-season momentum.
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