Box Score
The Lehman College men's soccer team (0-2 Overall, 0-0 CUNYAC) dropped its home-opening match this evening, falling to the Yeshiva University Maccabees (1-1 Overall, 0-0 Skyline) by a score of 2-0 at the South Field in the Bronx. The contest marked the first time a Lehman College athletic event was played on the South Field at night, as the facilities' lights were turned on and put to use for athletic competition for the first time.
The Maccabees struck early in the contest, as Joseph Itkis would slip a goal past Lightning goaltender Marcos Coto-Batres at the 8:53 mark to give his team a 1-0 lead. Just over nine minutes later, in the 18th minute of play (17:58), Yeshiva University's Aryeh Rosenberg added a tally, as the Maccabees took a 2-0 lead. Lehman College took nine shots in the first half, including five on-goal, but were unable to score against Maccabee backstop Mark Rocklin as Yeshiva University took a 2-0 lead into the half.
In the second half, the Lightning continued to play aggressively, hustling and recording 10 shots (including four on-goal), but again coming up empty. Rocklin put forth a stellar effort on the evening, as he didn't allow a goal and made nine saves to propel his team to a hard-fought victory. In a losing effort for the Lightning, Coto-Batres made five stops.
Following the contest, Lehman College skipper Joe Andre' gave his thoughts on the game.
“We're certainly disappointed that we didn't win the game, but we're even more upset that we weren't able to score at least one goal this evening,” Andre said. “The guys worked hard and gave themselves opportunities to score, but we weren't able to finish and their goalie made some tremendous saves. We're getting there, though, and hopefully we'll play hard this weekend and see more progression.”
The Lightning will return to action this weekend, as the team will participate in the Ramapo College Tournament. The Lightning will battle host Ramapo College on Saturday at 1:00pm before taking on Farleigh Dickinson University on Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm.
