TEANECK, N.J. – The Yeshiva University men's soccer team earned an important and historic Skyline Conference victory over Mount Saint Mary College, 4-1, at Votee Park on Sunday afternoon. It marks the first time in program history that Yeshiva has earned a win over Mount Saint Mary. The Maccabees advance their 2022 record to 3-1-1 in the Skyline and 4-1-1 overall.
YU surged to a 3-0 advantage and never looked back.
"Great win against a strong Skyline competitor that Yeshiva men's soccer has never beaten before," Yeshiva University Head Coach
Tobias Esche said. "The team knew going in it would be a tough game. They accepted the challenge and played strong until the end."
Senior goalkeeper
Benjamin Brener made seven saves to earn his third victory of the season for the Maccabees.
The Knights (2-4-1, 0-1-0 Skyline) had the advantage in shots, 19-14, but Yeshiva had the edge in shots that were on goal, 9-8. Mount Saint Mary took all four corner kick opportunities that occurred in the match.
YU's first goal occurred in the 18
th minute as sophomore
David Abittan passed the ball to
Lucas Baredes inside the box as the latter lined the ball into the net for this sixth goal of the year to give the Macs the early lead. Just under 20 minutes later, senior
Ethan Fettaya launched a free kick. The ball sailed to graduate student
Isaac Bendahan who tapped it into the back of the cage to inflate Yeshiva's cushion to two goals. Yeshiva took a 2-0 benefit into the intermission.
During the 64
th minute, Baredes fed the ball to Fettaya who rifled a line drive into the back of the net from 15 yards out to extend the Macs' hold to 3-0. Mount Saint Mary answered just over six minutes later as senior Matt Wyant tallied his first goal of the year thanks to a successful free kick just outside of the box. YU's lead was cut to 3-1. However, with a little over 10 minutes left to play, junior
Rafael Cohen picked the ball off the opposing goalkeeper just outside the box and then dribbled it in the box and tapped the ball into the wide-open net to give the Maccabees an insurance goal and a 4-1 advantage. That would be the final score.
Yeshiva will hit the road on Tuesday for a Skyline Conference match against St. Joseph's University Brooklyn. The action at Aviator Field begins at 4:30 p.m.
