Box Score
Maspeth, N.Y.— Hiromi Karahashi blasted the golden goal into the back of the mesh in the 104th minute of double overtime for John Jay as the Bloodhounds men’s soccer team defeated conference rival Baruch College, 3-2, in a men’s soccer contest at the Metropolitan Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Karahashi’s goal came at a much needed time as the Bloodhounds snapped a four match losing streak and has put John Jay back into the playoff hunt.
The goal came minutes into the final session as teammate Henrique Avellar beat the Baruch defense and ripped a shot toward the net from the near sideline, about 15 yards out. But the shot ricocheted off the left goalpost and took a perfect bounce as Karahashi was in a perfect spot to clean up the mess. He drilled the game winner at the net which was as open as the Grand Canyon after the Baruch goalkeeper, Nelson DiBastiano was out of position after reacting to Avellar’s initial offering.
The win gives John Jay’s its second conference win of the season and the Bloodhounds have now played 21 consecutive games against conference opponents in which the outcome was determined by a goal or less. The Bloodhounds are 8-11-2 in that time span, which started almost two years ago to the day (Oct. 21, 2006).
John Jay took a 1-0 lead early in the contest on a Baruch error as the Bloodhounds benefited on an own goal. Deep in the Bearcat zone the Bloodhounds applied mild pressure. But a Baruch player, in an attempt to stop a cross, punched the ball into the net to give John Jay the first goal of the game in the 32nd minute.
But Baruch, who outshot the Bloodhounds 18-8, including 11-3 in shots on goal, tied the game seven minutes later on a goal by Boris Lipsman at the 38:36 mark, and the two schools went into halftime tied at 1-1.
Baruch then took the lead in the second half on a penalty kick by Nick Shnayderman at the 56:08 marker.
But the lead proved to be short lived as John Jay knotted the score in the 63rd minute on a goal by Christopher Tapia, who found an open net after faking out the Baruch defense. He benefited by collecting a rebound off a direct kick by Avellar that was blocked by the Baruch wall. He slipped through the defense and fired point blank to the net for his team leading fifth goal of the season.
The score remained tied until Karahashi’s goal at 103:32 as John Jay has defeated Baruch the last two years in the regular season. Karahashi recorded the game winner in overtime last season to defeat the Bearcats as well.
John Jay is now 4-12-0 (2-5-0 CUNYAC) this season while Baruch is now 7-3-3 (5-2-0 CUNYAC).
John Jay returns to action on Wed. Oct. 22 as they wrap up their 2008 regular season schedule against New York City Tech, 3:30 p.m. at Flushing Meadow Park.
