CCNY's Men Soccer Uses Two Penalties to Defeat John Jay 2-1

City College converted two penalty kicks to defeat John Jay 2-1 Saturday evening at Randall's Island.

Anthony Scarallo executed a penalty kick late in the second half to declare the win for City, after CCNY's Kenan Redzematovic and Grayson Carlson exchanged goals in the first half.

"I think we should've had more goals than we did," captain Abdul Abdulai said after the game. "And winning a game on two PKs, I mean it's still a win that's the most important thing that we take from it but I think we could've done better."

After this result CCNY and John Jay swaps position in the table. John Jay (5-10 Overall, 3-4 CUNYAC) falls to sixth place with nine points, while the Beavers (6-7, 3-3) climbs to fifth place with nine points as well. City have a game in hand.

There was something odd as the two teams lined up for kickoff. CCNY's midfielder Clifford Leriche positioned himself in the right back position. That was the second consecutive game that coach Roberto Ignaccolo used Leriche in his defense.

The new right back is rather pleased of this switch. "It's always good to play a different position because you never know what you're capable of, before I was playing central midfield and after that, as coach put me in the right back position then I'm more effective there," Leriche said.

City looked like they were going to score the first goal in the 18th minute as Redzematovic sent a through ball to Stephanos Hondrakis. Hondrakis connected with the pass and had nothing but green in front of him and the goalkeeper to beat, forcing Bryant Silva to bring him down in the box.

Referee Martin Gunes pointed to the spot. Redzematovic stood over the spot kick and directed the ball to the right corner of the net sending keeper Sehad Mujovic the wrong way.

Just eight minutes later, Carlson scored yet another goal for John Jay to tie the game. The CUNYAC top scorer was left open in the far post to tap in Justin Osorio's cross. This was Carlson's 18th goal in 16 games played this season.

The two sides remained leveled all the way into halftime.

CCNY came inches of retaking the lead in the second half. Redzematovic was denied of the line in the 77th by a melee of players in front of the net. City saw their top scorer limp off the field with a knee injury after the melee. It is not yet determined if Redzematovic will be available to play against Baruch on Wednesday.

City came out okay without their starting striker. Gunes would blow the whistle for another City penalty in the 82nd minute. Javed Khan stuck a foot out to stop Abdulai's explosive run in the box.

The John Jay players argued for a dive. "It wasn't a dive," Abdulai clarified. "I beat him to pace and then he just clipped my ankle. It was a very soft touch but when you're like running so fast the little touches just going to seem like the heaviest touch ever."

Defender Scarallo stepped up from 12 yards and hit a perfect penalty kick to give his team the win. Mujovic guessed the right way this time but couldn't get a glove on the ball.

The Beavers take on the second best team in CUNYAC Baruch on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Randall's Island, while John Jay travel to Lehman for their last CUNYAC game before the playoffs.