FLUSHING, NY -- Alan Tsigalnitsky's (St. Petersburg, Russia) penalty kick in the 73rd minute proved to be the difference, as the City College of New York men's soccer team (2-8-0, 2-2-0 CUNYAC) earned a 3-2 victory over York (1-10-0, 0-3-0 CUNYAC) at Queens College's Knights Field on Saturday. The win was CCNY's second straight and moved the Beavers into third place in the CUNY Athletic Conference standings.
After a scoreless first half, the Cardinals got on the board first when Marvin Mondesir converted a penalty kick in the 52nd minute. CCNY evened the score just seven minutes later, as
Darko Delano (Accra, Ghana) controlled a header and put it into the back of the net.
York regained the lead in the 61st minute on Mondesir's second goal of the game, but the Beavers again responed quickly. In the 66th minute,
Moustapha Salane (Dakar, Senegal) found an open
Edgar Gutierrez (Puebla, Mexico) in the box, and he finished the job to even the score at 2-2.
It would remain that way until the 73rd minute, when a York yellow card for a foul in the box set up a CCNY penalty kick. Tsigalnitsky calmly stepped up and buried the attempt, giving the Beavers their first lead of the contest. And the CCNY defense made that advantage hold up, only allowing one shot on goal over the final 17 minutes to preserve the win.
The Beavers have now posted back-to-back victories for the first time since ending the 2017 season with wins over York and Yeshiva.
All three goal scorers--Delano, Gutierrez and Tsigalnitsky--registered their first tally of the year. Tsigalnitsky's game-winner, meanwhile, kept the Beavers perfect on penalty kicks this season.
Kacper Lesniak (Nowy Sacz, Poland) contributed six saves in the victory. Jasper McLeod made three saves for the Cardinals.
Three of CCNY's four remaining games will be at Randall's Island Field 10, starting with a 6:30 p.m. matchup against Brooklyn (1-10-0, 1-2-0 CUNYAC) on Wednesdady.
