Men’s Soccer Gets Their First Win of the Season

by Frank Costagliola

Despite the Dolphins’ struggles this season, they dominated the Gothic Knights on Wednesday, ending their six-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory.

The CSI Men’s Soccer team punished the Gothic Knights, taking advantage of a sloppy defense, which lead to goals from six players.

The game’s first goal came in the 15th minute, after Brayan Evo capitalized on an error, by a NJCU defenseman. Evo was able to create space and found himself one-on-one with NJCU’s John Riggs.

Evo buried the ball in the far post, setting the tone for the Dolphins, and was also his first goal of the season.

Shortly after, Vasyl Fedortsi scored the second goal at the 25th minute mark.

Fedortsi ripped a shot from 35 yards out, settling into the back of the net. This goal was a beauty and was a treat for the 84 fans in attendance. The Dolphin’s third goal of the half came from Tarek Emam.

Emam received a great pass from Marcin Kim and found himself one-on-one. Emam took full advantage of the situation and made the shot.

The Dolphins were prepared to take a four goal lead at the end of the half, but a shot by Philip Lefkowitz was just shy of the net, sailing just above the post.

Despite, failing to capitalize on the goal, the Dolphins were in the driver’s seat after the first half of play.

Their constant pressure on NJCU’s  side of the field and high intensity set them up nicely for the second half.

This was the best half the Dolphin’s played all season, scoring more goals during this half than they did in any of their previous games.

The Dolphins were also very efficient, scoring three goals on six shot attempts.

The Dolphins continued right where they left off after play resumed, with their fourth goal coming three minutes into the second half.

The goal came off an assist by Fedortsi who set up Marcin Klim with an easy tap in goal.

The Gothic Knights’ window for victory shrank rapidly at this point in the game.

NJCU’s defense struggled to keep up with CSI’s solid ball movement.

When the Knights had possession of the ball they couldn’t hold onto it long enough to create a decent scoring opportunity.

CSI kept the goals coming in the second half.. Nicholas Bacarella scored the game’s fifth goal, giving the Dolphins a commanding 5-0 lead. Bacarella’s goal came from a pass by Dardan Nika.

NJCU finally got a point on the board after Kevin Cavalcanti’s corner kick was scored by Reggie Nyema.

The corner kick was a beauty, but would be the Knights’ only goal.

The Knights’ struggles continued as the Dolphins’ scored their sixth and final goal as time was coming to an end.

Dardan Nika was able to take the ball away from a NJCU defender and scored an easy goal.

The Dolphins looked like a different team, efficiently maintaining control over the ball, executing an aggressive defense, and making smart shot selection.