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GAME STATISTICS
HVMAC
Soccer Championship Game:
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The Culinary Institute of America captured the 2006 HVMAC Soccer Tournament Championship with a dramatic 4-3 come from behind win over Mount Saint Vincent on Sunday. Tournament MVP Dan O'Brien scored on a penalty kick at 88:50 to secure the win for CIA, who captured their first-ever HVMAC Tournament Championship. |
In front of one of the largest crowds to ever see an HVMAC Soccer Championship Game, Culinary proved to be a survivor during what proved to be a battle from start-to-finish. Mount Saint Vincent (4-14-1) opened the scoring at 19:44 when senior Chris MacDonald gobbled up a loose ball created when Culinary goalie Kyle Spencer misplayed a rebound and fired a shot into the empty net for the score. However, the lead did not last long as 1:08 later, Culinary's Todd Licey benefitted from a gorgeous through ball by Rob Hagger and scored on a breakaway to tie the score. Culinary was not finished there. At 43:06, Dolphin goalie Martino Cecere made a spectacular diving save, but Culinary's Ryan Clark scored on a rebound to give CIA a 2-1 lead at halftime.
The second half featured some incredible back-and-forth action as both teams saw golden opportunities to score but neither converted for more than 25 minutes. Culinary put the Mount Saint Vincent defense under tremendous pressure, but Cecere had one of the best games of his career, stopping 15 total shots, including eight during the second half to keep Mount Saint Vincent in the game.
Just when it seemed like Culinary was poised to put the game and championship away, the Mount Saint Vincent offense erupted for two goals in a 4:42 span to take a 3-2 lead. Sophomore Michael Hernandez tied the score at 70:54 as MacDonald streaked down the right sideline and drew two Culinary defenders, as he ran out of space to run he fired a perfect crossing pass right on to Hernandez's foot, and Hernandez scored his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-2. At 75:12, junior Garrett Cooke (North Kingston, RI/Bishop Hendricken) put the Mount in the lead, scoring a goal nearly identical to Hernandez's as Hernandez found Cooke wide open in the middle off of a transition play to give the Dolphins a 3-2 edge.
With time running down, Culinary drove desperately to the Mount Saint Vincent goal seeking the tie and several Cecere saves kept the Mount in the lead, but not for long. At 80:32, Culinary was awarded a corner kick, and Clark's kick was headed perfectly by CIA senior Mike LaPage to the back of the net for a 3-3 tie.
The game's final 10 minutes proved to be among the most wild of the 2006 season as both teams sought to break the tie prior to what would have been sudden-victory overtime. With the clock winding down and overtime seemingly imminent, controversy erupted when Culinary's Marvin Holder ran with the ball inside the Mount Saint Vincent box and fell. While the game's referee did not rule a foul, the near linesman did rule a foul had occured after a lengthy discussion, Culinary was awarded a penalty kick at 88:50. O'Brien converted the kick to clinch the Championship for Culinary.
Overall, CIA outshot Mount Saint Vincent, 34-18 and carried play for much of the game, but Cecere was simply magnificent, as his 15 saves included a stop of a CIA penalty kick during the first half. Culinary also had seven corner kicks, compared to Mount Saint Vincent's four. CIA, under the guidance of first year Head Coach Michael Murphy won the HVMAC Tournament in only its second year of competition as CIA reached the Final a year ago, loosing to Cooper Union.
Including the post-season, Mount Saint Vincent and Culinary have now met four times during the last two seasons with three of the games being decided by one goal, including the 2006 regular season match-up, won by Mount Saint Vincent, 4-3 on Sept. 30.
