PURCHASE, N.Y. - The 21-game unbeaten streak that spanned multiple campaigns has been snapped, as the Golden Eagles overwhelmed the Valiants, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon. Handing Manhattanville their first conference loss of the season, the Valiants now sit with an overall record of 8-6-1, and 6-1-0 in the Skyline slate.
The Valiants started out the contest on the backfoot, allowing three corner kicks to the Golden Eagles before Manhattanville could register their first action, as the best chance for the Valiants came from a free kick a few yards outside the box, eventually being blocked by the wall of defenders.
SJLI opened the scoring in the 28th minute, as James Dacos poked the ball past a sliding Valiant defender on the back post, after receiving a pass from winger Marc Tolkin across the face of the goal. Daniel Dacos netted the second tally for St. Joe's after, once again, getting played a ball from the left wing, this time from the boot of Devin Seara, to a wide open Dacos standing alone in the 18-yard box and powering it pass the Valiant netminder. Manhattanville was shown a red card with under one minute to play in the first half, forcing them to play with ten men and shift their strategies.
As the second half kicked off, the Golden Eagles etched their third goal of the match, as Seara got one of his own with a curling strike from the left side of the eighteen, putting the score at 3-0, for SJLI. St. Joe's would dictate the tempo of the contest thanks to the extra man advantage, not allowing the Valiants to have a shot-on-goal until nine minutes remained in the contest, as
Alex Rojas (Mastic, N.Y./William Floyd) registered the first of three shots on goal. Manhattanville had two more opportunities to net a consolation goal with
Alec Pineda (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) and
Jostyn Blanco (Norwalk, Conn./Brien Mcmahon High School) producing efforts on net.
Luis Granados (Pasadena, Calif./St. Francis) donned the bright orange jersey for the Valiants, collecting nine saves on the day.
The Golden Eagles outshot the Valiants, 21-7, while also leading in shots on goal, 12-3. Valiant efforts were led by Blanco and Pineda with two shots, followed by Rojas,
Joseph Kresse (Goshen, NY/Goshen High School) and
David Trujillo (Tampa, Fla./Plant) with one each.
SJLI also paced Manhattanville in corner kicks, 8-4.
Up Next
The Valiants enjoy a week break from the pitch, welcoming in USMMA on Saturday Oct. 19 for another Valiant soccer doubleheader and their Senior Day, at 12:00 p.m.
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