Cardinals Dream Season Comes to an End at NCAA Championships
Box Score
KEENE, NH— The York College men’s soccer team saw their season come to an end on Saturday as the Cardinals lost 6-0 to Keene State College in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Championships.
York, who was making its third appearance in the NCAA Championships, struggled to get anything going against the Owls of Keene State. After 16 minutes of scoreless play, Keene got on the board first at the 16:27 mark when Shawn Booth scored off a rebound. It was the first goal York had allowed in 386 minutes of play, a streak of nearly five games.
The Owls netted another goal just four minutes later at the 20:14 mark. Keene’s Alex Horne set up Mike Cooley from mid-field. Cooley rifled a shot into the right hand corner to give the Owls a 2-0 advantage.
Keene tallied another goal at the 22:49 mark when Patterson set up Ross Stanton for a wide-open look to extend the Owls lead to 3-0. Alex Horne then put the Owls up 4-0 off a rebound of his own shot five minutes later.
York’s best opportunity to score in the first half came in the 41st minute off a free kick right outside Keene’s goalie box . Francisco Florez (Colombia/ Bryant) set a cross near the goal but Keene goalie Cal Mintz was able to clear the ball away. After a shaky start, the Cardinals defense tightened up for the final 18 minutes and went into halftime with the score still 4-0.
Despite allowing four first half goals, Kafui Kouakou (Togo, Africa/ CTC Ora Labora), the CUNYAC Player of the Year, made eight first-half saves to keep the Owls from extending their lead any further. Kouakou would finish the game with a season-high 15 saves for York.
Just 1:30 into the second half, Keene had a chance to extend their lead on a penalty kick but the ball was shot wide. However just a few minutes later, at the 48:16 mark, Horne added his second goal of the game on a breakaway to take a 5-0 lead. Keene State made it 6-0 in the 55th minute when a shot by Phil Petrozzi was ruled a goal after Koukou stopped the shot but was past the goal line. The Cardinals turned up their play in the remaining 35 minutes but were unable to mount any scoring threats.
“It was a tough game, said head coach Linval Cunningham. “I’m proud of the way we played and we had a great season.”
The Cardinals finish the 2007 season with a record of 14-6-1.
