PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Junior defender
Luke Rapaport (Mohegan Lake, N.Y./Lakeland) scored the game-winning goal and added an assist on an insurance marker, helping lift the second-seeded Plattsburgh State men's soccer team to a 2-0 win over third-seeded Buffalo State in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament semifinals on Wednesday afternoon at the Field House Complex.
Plattsburgh State rises to 11-7-0 overall with the win and posted its seventh shutout in eight games. The Cardinals will face nationally-ranked No. 10 and top-seeded SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 1 p.m. in Oneonta, N.Y., in the conference championship match. The winner of that contest earns the SUNYAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. Buffalo State concludes its season at 15-4-0 overall.
After a first half in which the Bengals had several chances, Plattsburgh State nearly scored the first goal of the game in the 59th minute. Junior midfielder
Cameron Richards (Larchmont, N.Y./Mamaroneck) beat a Buffalo State defender just inside the top of the 18-yard box, giving him space to rip a left-footed strike. The Bengals' senior goalkeeper Andreas Queen made a short dive to his right to keep the score deadlocked at zeroes.
A diving save by junior goalkeeper
Patrick Feeley (Harriman, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) kept the Bengals off the board in the 65th minute. Senior defender Colin O'Keefe crossed a pass in from the right side of the 18-yard box to sophomore forward Theo Pencic, and Pencic one-touched a ball that Feeley denied with a diving save to his right.
Plattsburgh State finally broke through in the 86th minute, scoring on a set piece. Sophomore defender
Andrew Braverman (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) struck a free kick from the far-left wing into the box, and freshman forward
Alex Graci (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) got a head on the ball before a sliding Rapaport kicked the ball into the net.
Senior forward
Chris Robertson (Thiells, N.Y./St. Joseph Regional [N.J.]) added insurance to the Cardinals' cause in the 89th minute. Rapaport blasted a ball from Plattsburgh State's defensive midfield to just outside the top of the 18-yard box in the Cardinals' offensive third. Robertson beat a Buffalo State defender to the ball and flicked a ball from the left side of the box that dribbled across the 6-yard box and inside the far post.
Despite the loss, Buffalo State finished with the upper hand in shots (16-10) and corner kicks (6-2).
Feeley (4-1-0) posted a seven-save shutout, his fourth of the season, while Queen (12-4-0) had two stops in the loss for Buffalo State.
