Mostafa Haridi hammered down a 103rd minute header to hand City College the CUNYAC trophy after a 2-1 victory over Staten Island at Brooklyn College Soccer Field on Saturday night.
Syed Haider nabbed the first goal of the final, giving CCNY an early lead. Emmanuel Agboola netted the equalizer for the Dolphins in the 61st minute before Haridi's winner.
After a marvelous pre-game presentation, the first chance of the night fell to the Dolphins in the third minute. Bryan Evo perfomed an acrobatic bycle kick but only to see his shot whistle just outside of the post.
Four minutes later, City went ahead with a deja vu goal. Anthony Scarallo sent a sizzling long throw in the 18-yard box. Defender Haider rose to head Scarallo's throw in the far post, leaving CSI keeper John Gioeli no chance to get a hand on it.
Scarallo's long throw has been one of CCNY's maneuver to find the back of the net, the Beavers scored three goals from long throw this season, including Clifford Leriche's opener in the semifinal against Brooklyn last week.
City were inches to bag a second one as Christopher Lovelle collected Augustine Amissah's rebound, and hit a screamer that was deflected just outside of the net after the half hour mark.
Number one seed CSI ended the first half more like the CSI we were used to in the regular season, combining passes in the attacking third. But they failed to feed the ball to their strikers, their best chance was when Agboola whipped the ball a little over the bar in the 36th minute after twisting and turning past a few CCNY defenders.
The Beavers continued to look for a second goal in the second half. In the 64th minute of play, winger Lanfia Diaby hit a low cross to his captain Abdul Abdulai. Abdulai one-timed the ball with his preferred right foot, the junior groaned as his shot was this close to kiss the net.
Besides City's dominance, Staten Island pulled out an equalizer after Tarek Emam tackled the ball from Aaron Schoenfelder and charged down City's open defense for a counter attack. The midfielder crossed the ball to an unmarked Agboola, who took a touch and calmly shot the the ball away from keeper Maxwel Berkow and in the net.
Both teams battled for a winner in the remaining 30 minutes of regulation but this year's championship was destined to go to extra-time. Staten Island came close to scoring twice in the first extra-time, of Marcin Klin's close range effort which was blocked by Scarallo and his long strike that went just over the cross bar in the 100th minute.
However, the second extra-time period was City's, thus the CUNYAC Championship. Schoenfelder sent an inswinging corner kick in the box. Haridi leaped and hammered the ball down to the left corner, which saw Gioeli helpless in the net.
The 2015 CUNYAC trophy will be nowhere else but in City's trophy cabinet. Haridi was named MVP of the CUNYAC Championship. The Beavers would celebrate the night out but their road doesn't end here, next up for them is the NCAA DIII regional tournament.
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