Tigermedia - CUNY Athletic Conference: Men's Community College Soccer Finals: Queensborough vs. Bronx CC (2013)
CUNY Athletic Conference: Men's Community College Soccer Finals: Queensborough vs. Bronx CC (2013)
Date: October 16th, 2013
Duration:
2h:9m:5s
Summary provided by CUNY Athletics, written by David Freeman.
BAYSIDE, NY - The top-seeded Queensboro Tigers defeated the Bronx Broncos 2-0 to win the 2013 CUNYAC / Applebees Men's Community College Soccer Championship.
Queensboro (10-1, 4-0 CUNYAC) got on the scoreboard in the 21st minute when Anthony Cavieles fed Brandon Diossa with a perfect pass 18 yards out that Diossa drilled into the lower left corner of the net. "In the beginning we were a little nervous," Head Coach Zef Kabashi stated after the match. "I told them to focus on the game itself, and eventually we found our rhythm and found the gaps."
Despite being a goal down, Bronx (4-5-1, 3-1 CUNYAC) held an 8-7 shot advantage going into the intermission. The Broncos continued to be aggressive early in the second half, but were unable to score on a tough Tigers defense that limited Bronx to just 16 shots for the match. Tigers goalkeeper Kevin Gordillo led that effort with five saves.
Both teams battled to gain an advantage early in the second half, but Queensboro grew stronger as the match progressed. The Tigers racked up 8 corner kicks and 15 shots down the stretch, completely dominating the final 16 minutes of play.
In the 81st minute, John Velasquez fired a shot from 20 yards that Broncos' goalkeeper Alejandro Rico was able to deflect. Unfortunately for Bronx, Tournament MVP Fookkee Liao raced to the ball and put the rebound into the Broncos' empty net. Liao celebrated the goal with a vertical leap into his teammates arms that was seen above the pitch by classmates, family, and friends.
After the match, Liao described his team's dominance with one word: "Amazing." "That's all hard work, that's what goes on when you train hard all the way back to preseason." His coach agreed. "Our goal offensively was to expose the outside," Kabashi said after winning his second championship in the past three seasons. "It's something we've worked on in practice all year."
The victory was the Tigers fifth championship in the 28-year history of the CUNYAC tournament, and only the second time (1986) that they've won the title on their home field. Queensboro will be back in action on October 22nd when they represent the CUNYAC in the NJCAA Region 15 Championship Tournament.