Senior Oumar Niang scored twice for the Lehman College men’s soccer team, but the Lightning could not hold off an aggressive side from the College of Staten Island on Saturday afternoon. CSI would come-from-behind to claim a 3-2 victory, in overtime. Lehman is now 3-12-1 on the season, and 2-5 in the CUNY Athletic Conference.
Niang (Bronx, NY/Manhattan Center) scored in the game’s third and seventh minutes, capitalizing on a sluggish Staten Island start. The second goal saw the CSI defense quit on the play, thinking Niang was offsides. Alas, he was not, and he took a pass from Aleh Kazak (Minsk, Belarus) and beat the keeper in a one-on-one situation.
Staten Island (9-8, 4-3 CUNYAC) took that second goal as a wake-up call, and stared to collect themselves. At the 17:19 mark, CSI got their first goal, when Alfonso Castaneda took a free kick from about 40 yards out, and bent the ball into the top corner. The score would remain 2-1 into halftime.
As the second stanza started, CSI had a corner kick from the right of Lehman keeper Maurice Whyte (Kingston, Jamaica/Kingston College). CSI’s Castaneda sent the ball generic xanax onax towards the near post, and Whyte punched the ball away from goal. Unfortunately, he punched the ball right into Michele Krissi, and the ball caromed off of him and into the goal.
With the score now tied at two goals apiece, play started to open up for both sides. Lehman tried hitting the long ball to generate offense, causing several offsides calls. Neither team could generate a goal in regulation, and we went into overtime.
Seeking the Golden Goal, Lehman had the first good scoring opportunity in overtime, but could not cash in. Ultimately, with less than one minute remaining in the first overtime, CSI found the elusive game-winner, as Nedgy Nazon beat Whyte in a one-on-one situation after Whyte came off his line.
For the game, Whyte and his CSI counterpart, Ahmed El-Gahreib, each made six saves.
Lehman will most likely be the number seven seed in the upcoming CUNY Athletic Conference Championships, which begin on Wednesday, October 24. Before that, Lehman must conclude the regular season, which holds two more contests. Up next, Lehman will head to Brooklyn on Tuesday, October 16, 2012, to play Medgar Evers College.
