Box Score
The Lehman College soccer team (1-10 Overall, 1-2 CUNYAC) dropped a CUNYAC match Saturday afternoon, falling to the Baruch College Bearcats (3-3-1 Overall, 3-0 CUNYAC) by a score of 3-2 at the Met Oval. The Lightning played arguably their best game of the season against a team that some may coin as the most polished in the conference to this point.
The Bearcats wasted no time jumping out to an early lead in the contest, as at the 3:05 mark, Baruch's John Moreno would receive passes from Boris Lipsman and Val Kirykovich and bury a ball past Lehman goaltender Marcos Coto-Batres to give his team a 1-0 lead. 30:05 later, the Bearcats' Freddy Carraso would score a goal, giving Baruch a commanding 2-0 advantage. Jason Lopez picked up an assist on the play.
The Lightning would not go down quietly, however, as at the 38:15 mark, Lehman's Amirouche Ait-Hamouda, who scored the game-winning goal for his team against the Yellow Jackets of New York City Tech three days earlier, would slip a ball past Baruch goalkeeper Nelson DiBastiano to pull the Lightning to within one, at 2-1. Daniel Brentuo tallied an assist on the play. After 45 minutes of play, Baruch held a 2-1 lead.
At the 58:10 mark, the Bearcats' Freddy Carraso would score what would be the difference-making goal in the game, scoring on a kick from 18 feet out to increase his team's lead to two goals, at 3-1. Jacob Cohen picked up the assist on the play. 26:55 later, at the 85:05 mark, the Lightning would pull to within 3-2 as Hamouda would score another goal. Olavo De Paula got credit for an assist on the score, and the Lightning were within one. The Bearcats, however, would hold not allow a goal over the final 4:55 of the contest as Baruch held on for the 3-2 victory.
The Bearcats out-shot the Lightning 29-7 in the victory. DiBastiano got the victory Baruch College in goal, making three saves and allowing just one goal in 80 minutes. Michael Murphy, the Bearcats' backup keeper, played the final 10 minutes and allowed one goal. Lehman's Marcos Coto-Batres made three saves in a losing effort.
The Lightning will return to action Wednesday afternoon as Lehman travels to Queens, NY to battle the Cardinals of York College in a CUNYAC match, with start-time scheduled for 4:00pm.
