February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
The stage was set for a photo finish in the First Division championship race when second-place New York Athletic Club clawed back from a 2-1 deficit to beat league leaders New York Albanians 3-2 at Evander Childs High School last weekend. NYAC’s remarkable victory — they were reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute — cut Albanians’ lead to five points.
But with a ruling pending from an abandoned match last fall against Banatul, NYAC, who anticipate a favorable hearing from the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, may close to within two points of the leaders, with two games remaining.
Albanians (14-3, 47 points) have one game left and manager Martin Shkreli fears their once bright hopes title hopes may be dissipating.
"We definitely needed a win [against NYAC]," he said, acknowledging his side’s predicament. "I said two weeks ago that the championship was ours to lose."
On the NYAC side, coach Ronan Downs was ecstatic over his men’s gutsy performance against the odds in the Bronx, and the revived hopes of a sixth championship in seven years.
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"Our best performance of the year as far as team effort is concerned," the Dubliner said. "We played great. Real New York Athletic Club soccer with heart."
NYAC’s win was improbable at best. Missing five regulars, including defender Cam Livingston and striker Matt Roberti, they took the lead almost against the run of play when Gerard Legassi finished off a Khouri Mullins move in the fifth minute.
Things, however, turned bad after that. A defensive error gifted Naum Kove with an equalizer in the 9th minute and shortly afterward, Albanians went ahead on Nikolla Pjetri’s strike following a botched clearance.
NYAC now seemed firmly in the grip of Murphy’s Law. They had Glenn Livingston sent off in the 35th minute for dissent, forcing Downs to replace striker Legassi for midfielder Hiro Suzuki.
The change, plus a pep talk at the interval, eventually paid off.
"We had a great team talk at half time and came out and scored two goals," Downs said.
Mullins got NYAC back on track when he lobbed the ball over the Albanian goalie (70th) to tie the game. He then banged in the winner from the penalty spot after Billy Cronin was manhandled in the box ten minutes from the end.
Shkreli lauded NYAC for their strong second-half effort, while ruing the chances Albanians squandered.
"In the first half we could have put the game away. We missed so many chances. Athletic Club came back strong in the second half. They are a very good team," he said.
NYAC improved to 12-3 (37) while they wait for the league to rule on Banatul game.
Albanians, on the other hand, need to win their final match against Fairfield/Westchester United while hoping that NYAC slip up along the way.
Metros advance
Over-30 side GH Metros beat the Athletic Club reserves 2-0 at Travers Island to reach the semi-finals of the Saunders Cup.
Steve Bodden had Metros up 1-0 at halftime with his 30th minute effort from a Carlo Moncerro pass, before Moncerro finished NYAC off in the 75th minute. Guyla Hegyi had the second assist.
Metros coach Rory Finn said the turning point of the match came when goalie Armandio Rodriguez saved a NYAC penalty before Moncerro’s killer goal.
"They were attacking a lot and if they score the penalty it could would have been a different game," Finn said.
Finn will this week lead five Metros players to Sacramento, Calif., for an Over-48 tournament.
Fitzgerald reflects
Manhattan Kickers player-coach Mike Fitzgerald was left mulling over what may have been after Kickers ended the season runners-up in Div. 2 (East) following a 1-all tie with Ukrainians at McCarran Park.
Rob Figonson (34th) canceled out Valentin Kovalenko’s go-ahead goal for Ukrainians, whose second team prevailed 3-1 to clinch the reserve title.
"Needless to say, I’m disappointed that we came in second," said Fitzgerald, Kickers’ first-team goalie. "But we did well, much better than before. We were just not consistent enough."
Kickers (9-4-3, 30) missed out on promotion from the East after leading the section for most of the season.
League Cup
First Division-bound Ridgeway Romac maintained their hot form in the League Cup, subduing Central Park Rangers 6-4 at Randalls Island in the quarterfinals.
Ridgeway, who ended Shamrock’s two-year hold on the Cup the previous week, tallied through Eduard Laibner (two), Dan Ciabuca (two), Bacula Sofrone and Bichi Dumitru.
They meet Second Division Ripensia Romania in the semifinals next week.
"B" Division
Juan Andrara netted in the 60th minute to earn S.C. Eintracht a 1-1 draw with Guyana Veterans "B" at Randalls.