In a wild CUNYAC semifinals affair on Saturday afternoon, the men's soccer team upset #1 Lehman College, 1-1 (4-3 in penalty kicks), on the campus of Fordham University in the Bronx. The Bloodhounds improve to 7-10 on the season. The Lightning end the season with an overall record of 11-4-1. 

In the 33rd minute, the hosts took a 1-0 lead and carried that to half time. Lehman outshot John Jay by a margin of 10-0 in the half. Junior Steven Towler recorded three saves in the first forty-five minutes. 

The Bloodhounds intensified the pressure in the second looking for the equalizer. In the 69th minute, three players were given red cards and ejected from competition and John Jay held a man advantage the rest of the way. 

Approximately five minutes later, junior Mark Shnadshteyn fed senior Chris Toledo who buried it into the far left corner to time the game. The game would head in extra time with the score 1-1. 

John Jay controlled a majority of both periods but could not find the back of the net. The match would be decided by penalty kicks.

Junior James Haddad converted on his kick to give the Bloodhounds a 2-1 advantage. Lehman tied it up but freshman Michael Fernandez shot one past the goalkeeper to regain the lead for John Jay.

Once again, the Lightning evened the score at three apiece. Coming down to the final kick, S. Towler elected to shoot for the Bloodhounds and buried it for the game-winner to send John Jay to the championship. 

"It's amazing, we have unbelievable mental strength to go through all the highs and lows throughout the game," S. Towler said. "It took all 21 guys to get this victory. We kept our calm against a great squad like Lehman."

The Bloodhounds will return to the CUNYAC Title game for the second time in three years. The program will look for its first CUNYAC Championship when they face #2 Hunter College on Saturday, November 9, at 4:30 pm on the campus of Brooklyn College.