FLUSHING, N.Y. – Continuing their homestand Saturday evening the Queens College men's soccer team welcomed the Dolphins of College of Staten Island to Knights Field in East Coast Conference action.
Welcoming the Dolphins to Flushing since last year's ECC First Round game, the Knights would rally twice in the first 22 minutes of play before junior
Harry Cooke (Market Drayton, England) completed a first-half hattrick to put the Knights up 3-2 before second half goals from graduate student
Carlos Almeida (Sao Paulo, Brazil), and the sophomore duo of
Jason Udo (Bronx, N.Y.) and
Tommy Gunn (Buenos Aires, Argentina) helped Queens earn a 6-2 victory over the Dolphins.
With the win, Queens improved to 6-4 overall on the year and 4-0 in ECC play. Saturday's win over the Dolphins earned Queens their fifth straight victory and third straight in Flushing over their ECC foe.
HOW IT HAPPENED
There would be no time to settle in as the Dolphins blitzed the Knights with a goal just 33 seconds into the game.
Playing off the back foot just a minute in, the Knights would look to answer in the second minute of play but Cooke's shot would get blocked before an offside canceled an attacking opportunity.
But as Queens earned a free kick in the sixth minute of play, Cooke would bury the shot as the Knights tied the game 1-1 in the 6
th minute of play.
However, the Dolphins responded again taking a 2-1 lead in the 10
th minute of play.
With three goals in the first 10 minutes of play, and both sides looking to answer each other in a fast-paced tempo game the Knights would start to dictate the passage of play as they earned three corner kicks and notched three shots.
The Dolphins looked to double their advantage in the 19
th minute of play but a timely save from sophomore goalie
Thanasis Shehadeh (Nicosia, Cyprus) would keep the deficit at 2-1.
Keeping the Dolphins in their defensive zone, Almeida would deliver a cross into the box before Cooke completed a first-half brace in the 22
nd minute of play to tie the game at 2-2.
With Queens now having changed the momentum they would tally five shots over the 15 minutes of play including three shots on goal but the Dolphins goalie would keep the game tied at 2-2.
Continuing to attack Udo would be tackled near the 18-yard box as Queens earned a free kick and once again it would be Cooke up to the mark.
In a position to take a 3-2 lead and tally his second hat trick of the year Cooke would sneak the ball into the bottom right corner in the 39
th minute of play as Queens took a 3-2 lead into halftime.
The Dolphins began the second half as the aggressors as they outshot Queens 3-1 in the first seven minutes of the second half.
Shehadeh would make a timely save in the 52
nd minute of play to keep the Knights' 3-2 lead intact.
For the second time in the game Queens would switch the momentum as the Knights scored twice in five minutes behind Almeida's header in the 65
th minute of playing off a cross from sophomore
Miguel Soto Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) and Udo's goal off a pass from sophomore
Andrew Johnson (Oakdale, N.Y.) in the 70
th minute of play as Queens took a commanding lead of 5-2.
The Knights would hold the Dolphins to just one shot in the final 20 minutes of play before Gunn notched his first goal of the year in the 84
th minute of play to close out the scoring and earn their sixth victory of the year and fourth in ECC play.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Cooke recorded his team-leading 29th point of the year with his second hat trick of the season in the first half.
- The junior has recorded 25 points in the last six games recording 11 goals and three assists.
- On the year Cooke has notched a team-high 12 goals and five assists for a team-high 29 points.
- For the fourth straight game, the junior has tallied the game-winning goal.
- With his third goal of the game and 29, the junior broke the single-season points program record of points 27 recorded by Danny Stoker in the 2011 season.
- Almeida notched a single-season best effort of three points recording his first goal of the year and team-high sixth assist of the year.
- Udo and Gunn notched their first goal of the year
- Soto Gonzalez recorded his 17th point of the year with his third assist of the year.
- Johnson notched his second assist of the year and rookie Jakub Rembiszewski (Middle Village, N.Y.) tallied his career point by recording an assist.
- In goal, Shehadeh recorded two saves and earned his fourth win of the year.
- Queens outshot CSI 27-7 and held 13-4 shots on goal advantage.
- Cooke recorded a game-high six shots and four shots on goal.
- Soto Gonzalez tallied four shots and three shots on goal.
NEXT GAME
The Knights return to non-conference play on Wednesday, Oct. 9 as the Rams of Thomas Jefferson University come to town. Kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's soccer (qcmsoccer).
