Oct. 13, 2011

Box Score

BRONX, N.Y. - Having clinched the top overall regular season record in the City University of New York Athletic Conference on Wednesday night, the Lehman men's soccer team had every reason to suffer a potential letdown against a visiting St. Joseph's (BK) team that entered Thursday night's match at 1-5 overall.

Instead, the Lightning kept its foot on the gas pedal, demolishing the Bears 12-2 in a game that was essentially decided less than 25 minutes into the first half.

Several players had big nights for Lehman including Oumar Niang, who tallied four goals, Momar Thiam, who registered three of his own, and Moussa Toure, bringing up the rear with two goals.  Also scoring for the Lightning were Will Arbieto-Lopez, Alex Linde and Carlos Ribeiro.

Niang's four goal performance gives him 10 on the season, putting him among the league leaders in CUNYAC.

Lehman had a decided advantage in shots on goal, firing 30 to just three for St. Joseph's.  Despite giving up all 12 goals,
Bears' keeper Michael Miner made a number of outstanding saves among the 18 that he recorded.

Under a misting rain, Niang started things off for the Lightning in the third minute of action, beating Miner off a pass by Leonardo de Oliveira for the quick 1-0 advantage.  Thiam followed nearly five minutes later with his first strike of the game in the eighth minute.  Less than four minutes after that it was Arbieto-Lopez's turn, and when Niang found the net again in the 21st minute for his second goal, the rout was on.

Two more goals by Niang in the 27th and 39th minutes gave way to Linde's first of the season in the 40th minute, capping the Lightning's first half onslaught with the score 7-0.

Lehman will finish the CUNYAC portion of its schedule on Saturday afternoon when it hosts City College of New York at 1 p.m. on the South Field.