Stephen Chikwem scored two goals, adding to his team-leading total for the season, as the ACPHS men's soccer team defeated the Culinary Institute of America by a score of 4-0 on Saturday in the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference semifinal game, held at the Plumeri Sports Complex.

After each team had scoring chances in the game's early minutes, the Panthers took the lead in the 19th minute as Ryan Michonski (Southwick, MA, Southwick-Tolland) scored from just outside the penalty box on a perfectly placed shot, just outside of the reach of the Steels' goalie. ACPHS took the 1-0 lead into halftime, as CIA was kept in the game by some great stops by their keeper, Dan Moreno.

Early in the second half, ACPHS turned on the pressure and Chikwem scored his first goal of the game as he corralled a shot from Andrew Levy (Glenville, NY, Burnt Hills) that was stopped by the goalie.Zach Hecox (New Hartford, NY, New Hartford), second on the team in goals scored behind Chikwem, scored 22 minutes into the second half to put ACPHS up 3-0. Chikwem struck again, off an assist from Henry Appiah (Ghana), to account for the game's final scoring.

Adam Hoye-Simek (Broadalbin, NY, Broadalbin-Perth) was strong in net, posting his second shutout against CIA this season, making 10 saves in net for the victory.

In the other HVMAC semifinal game, Berkeley College defeated Cooper Union by a score of 2-0 which sets up the championship game on Saturday, November 6th at 4:00 PM at the Plumeri Sports Complex. Earlier in the season, the Panthers defeated Berkeley 2-0 to earn home field advantage for the tournament.