City Tech Moves Past John Jay, 2-1

MASPETH, N.Y.— The New York City Tech Yellow Jackets, the No. 6 seed defeated No. 3 seed John Jay College, 2-1, in the quarterfinal round of the 2007 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) men’s soccer tournament on Saturday. New York City Tech improves to 7-8-1 (3-4-1 CUNYAC) while John Jay’s season ends with a 6-10-3 (4-2-2 CUNYAC) record.

The visiting Yellow Jackets raced out to a 2-0 advantage to take control of the match.

New York City Tech got a pair of goals late in the first half to establish the cushion. The Yellow Jackets got on the board in the 35th minute on a penalty kick by Hugo Urgiles (Brooklyn, NY / Edward R. Murrow) after a John Jay foul in the penalty box.

The Bloodhounds then fell behind by two when moments later City Tech got another goal, this one came in the 42nd minute off the foot of Richar Lopez (Queens, NY / Grover Cleveland) to give the visitors a two goal lead at the intermission.

“I thought we played great in the first half, and we dominated the middle of the field and managed to get two goals out of it,” said New York City Tech head coach Jose Luis Rebay. “John Jay did a great job in the second half, but the two goal lead helped us relax a little in the second half and play with patience and we managed to hold on.”

The score remained 2-0 for most of the second half, despite numerous opportunities that came John Jay’s way.

Hiromi Karahashi (Kanagawa, Japan / St. Johnsburg) was awarded a penalty kick early in the second half after a City Tech foul inside the penalty area. But Karahashi’s point blank shot was knocked aside by Yellow Jackets goalkeeper James Hidalgo (Queens, NY / Bryant) who had seven saves in the match. After the save Kamal Haruna (Accra, Ghana / Martin Luther King) header attempt off the rebound sailed over the goal as the Bloodhounds remained two goals down.

John Jay finally got on the board in the 81st minute on a header by freshman Oscar Gacia (East Elmhurst, NY / St. John’s Prep) off a free kick from Daniel Vargas (Corona, NY / Arts and Business) to cut the deficit in half.

Moments later the Bloodhounds appeared to have tied the game as Joceny Theresias (St. Louis-du-Nord, Haiti / Metropolitan) started on a breakaway on the near sideline and managed to trickle the ball past the Yellow Jacket keeper who unsuccessfully came out of the net to stop the shot. As the ball edged toward the net Haruna came from the weak side and stuffed it home, but was offsides as the would-be game tying goal was waived off.

John Jay continued to apply the pressure but could not get the equalizing goal between the pipes. With time expiring Steven Castillo (Maspeth, NY / Forest Hills) ripped a direct kick that was stopped short by Hidalgo, his seventh and final save of the match as the Yellow Jackets held on.

Kemar Brown (Kingston, Jamaica / Van Buren) made three saves in net for John Jay.