Box Score
Purchase, NY (Oct. 24, 2013) – Purchase men's soccer clinched a berth in the Skyline Conference postseason tournament by handing rival SUNY College at Old Westbury a 3-0 defeat Thursday night.
The two teams, which entered tonight's action in a tie for third place, played a spirited game, but Purchase prevailed in a hard-fought contest. In the process, the Panthers moved up the conference standings by gaining three points and taking a stranglehold on third place.
Although the playoff picture is not completely clear with so many clubs separated by a game or two and more conference games remaining, Purchase is in line for a possible top four seed, which would include a home playoff game. The top two seeds receive a bye and seeds three and four host a home playoff game. A field of six teams advance to the tournament, which this season will conclude at Mount Saint Mary as the league is hosting a "Fall Festival," with a majority of the fall title games under one roof at MSMC.
Purchase improved to 8-6-2 overall and 5-2-1 in the Skyline under first year head coach James Bruno. Old Westbury dropped to 9-7-2 overall and 4-3-1 in the league.
The hosts closed out the shutout win with two insurance goals in the second half.
Midfielder Eli Wilson-Berkowitz (JR/North Hampton, MA), off a well placed pass by Junior Sanguina (JR/White Plains, NY), fired a shot and then took the rebound in for a goal that capped the scoring at 3-0. His fourth goal of the season in the 81st minute sealed a resounding win for Purchase.
Roughly 15 minutes earlier, Enderson Mhilli (SR/Rye, NY) took a ball to the byline and passed it to teammate Danny Moallem (SR/New Rochelle, NY), who scored his fourth goal of the fall for a 2-0 margin.
Purchase picked up where it left off in the first half. The Panthers had an aggressive attack in the first 45 minutes. The Panthers wore down Old Westbury from the outset. In the 25th minute, Myles Clohessy (SO/Cornwall, CT) hit the post, foreshadowing more to come in the half Sanguina took three shots and Wilson-Berkowitz tallied two shots in the period.
Shortly later in the 21st minute, a foul right outside the box setup a free kick for Purchase. The Panthers went with a fake off the free kick as Brad Kohel (FR/Goshen, NY) emerged as the second shooter, blasting the ball into the top left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Panthers outshot Old Westbury 11-5 in the first half, while also winning the corner kick margin, 3-2.
For the game, Purchase totaled 19 shots and limited OW to 12. Purchase also held the edge in corners, 6-4, and won the foul margin 3-10.
Panther keeper Esteban Aguilar (SO/East Hampton, NY) earned his sixth shutout of the fall, including his fourth in conference. He put the finishing touches on the win by doing a back flip once the buzzer sounded. Aguilar made a series of terrific stops, including one sequence late in the second half that preserved the shutout. He finished with five saves.
Purchase has one conference and regular season game remaining at MSMC Saturday.
