October 11, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHC splits soccer doubleheader
by TOM UTESCHER

CHC’s Jesse Long (left) takes flight heading the ball away from a Nyack College opponent. For more photos, visit www.chlocalphotos.com.. (Photo by Pack Jr.)

In last Saturday’s Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference soccer doubleheader at Chestnut Hill College, the Griffin ladies fell, 5-0, to visiting Nyack (NY) College, but the second half of the twin bill put the home crowd in a better frame of mind, as the CHC men engineered a 2-1 come-from-behind victory in overtime.

Senior Jeff Lewin tied the men’s game at 1-1 near the end of regulation play, and junior John Wood netted the winner about five minutes into the OT, giving Chestnut Hill its very first soccer victory in the CACC, the conference that the local school joined as it moved up into NCAA Division II this fall.

Earlier last week, the CHC women broke a string of defeats by tying visiting Goldey-Beacom College (Wilmington, DE) 1-1. Griffins junior Tiffanie Stanton scored in the middle of the second half to match a goal scored by the Lightning late in the first period. On Saturday, however, Nyack quickly jumped on top of the Griffins (0-6-1 CACC, 0-11-1 overall), with Alisha Smith and Chauntel Veilleux giving the Warriors a 2-0 lead in the first 29 minutes.

Chestnut Hill had its best scoring opportunity about ten minutes into the second half, when an outside shot by Stanton was blocked, but not held, by visiting keeper Whitney Shutt. CHC senior Debbie Sterns closed in on the loose ball, but Shutt scrambled to recover it just in time.

Nyack (7-7, 4-3 CACC) reinforced its lead when Veilleux completed a hat trick on back-to-back goals with around 20 minutes remaining, heading in a corner kick and then a serve from along the right endline. A second goal by Smith completed the Warriors’ total as the visitors outshot the locals 33-7 for the afternoon.

The Chestnut Hill men’s team was also in a bit of a funk coming into the game; after going 4-1-1 in their first six games, the next five outings yielded four losses and a tie. The Griffins had just been defeated, 1-0, by Goldey-Beacom, and it looked as if a similar fate was in store for them Saturday, as Nyack’s Baba Fatoba scored the first goal of the game

with 19:55 remaining.

As usual, CHC was counting on cashing in on a quick counterstrike after deliberately giving up outside shots to its opponents. Nyack obliged, outshooting the host club 27-12 in the game, but in the process, the Warriors had gained the lead more than halfway through the second period.

On this unseasonably sweaty Saturday, Chestnut Hill would force the contest into overtime by scoring with 3:08 to go in regulation time. On a restart in few yards in from the right corner, freshman Marko Tomljanovic crossed the ball inside, where it glanced off a defender and came out of the box on the far side. The Griffins fed it back in towards the goal, where Lewin scored from a few feet inside the left post.

Early in “golden goal” overtime, the Warriors (5-3-2, 1-3 CACC) almost brought the bout to a quick conclusion, but had a promising shot strike a goalpost. At the other end, CHC earned a restart from the right side and put the ball in the box. A Warrior back booted it out, but Griffin freshman Jesse Long jabbed the ball back inside once more, setting up the gamewinning strike by Wood. In goal at the opposite end, freshman Duhan Malali finished with six saves for the Griffins, who improved to 1-4 in the conference, and 5-5-2 overall.