Garden City, N.Y. - On Senior Night, it was perhaps fitting that reigning Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year
Federico De Oliveira led his team to another regular season NE10 title, as the senior scored the game-winner just 18 seconds into overtime to send the 10th-ranked Adelphi University men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Yellow Jackets of American International on Friday night.
With the win, Adelphi (13-1-2, 11-1-1 NE10) picks up three points for a total of 34, to surpass second-place Merrimack, which has 32 points and a conference record of 10-1-2.
The Panthers claim top seed in the NE10 Tournament for the second straight season, and will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
An offensive-minded Adelphi out-shot AIC (6-9-1, 5-7-1 NE10) by 11-6 l in the first half, as junior
James Thristino scored the first goal of the contest in the 27th minute.
Taking a feed from
Joseph Thomann at the top of the box, the junior fired past AIC keeper Ioannis Iatroudis and home for the 1-0 lead, which stood at the half.
The Yellow Jackets put the pressure on in the second half, spending much of the second 45 minutes in the area of the Adelphi net, but
Raymond Leto proved up to the task until the 78th minute.
The sophomore keeper saved a total of six shots, a season-high, until Jovanni Garcia scored his eighth goal of the season, finally breaking the ice with a hard cross shot from the left corner of the box, into the top right corner. Leto ended regulation with seven total saves, including a diving effort on JP Rylah in the 88th minute which kept the game even at 1-1.
That set the stage for the New Jersey native, who fired the first shot of OT from 25 yards out, high and into the top right corner of the box and over a leaping Iatroudis to give Adelphi its second straight NE10 regular season title, and the top seed in the conference tournament for the second year in a row.
Prior to the start of the game, the Panthers honored their 12 graduating seniors and graduate students: De Oliviera,
Quentin Sathasivam,
Florent Girardin,
Andre De Giorgi,
Joseph Sanchez,
Toni Soler,
Carlos Iparraguirre,
Matt Giaconelli,
Brian Morgan,
Guillermo Lazcano,
Alex Varkatzas and
John Stojcevski.
The Panthers will host an NE10 quarterfinal game on Tuesday, Oct. 31 against #8 seeds, Bentley University, on Motamed Field at 7 p.m. For the latest updates regarding postseason play, head to aupanthers.com or follow the Panthers on social media @AUPanthers.
About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past eight seasons, has collected 23 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017), while winning six NCAA Division II National Championships.
For the latest on Adelphi University Athletics, follow the Panthers at
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