Box Score
ACPHS won 1-1; 4-2 in a penalty shootout with the Berkeley College Knights on Saturday night. The win moves the Panthers to 11-4-2 on the year and sends them to take on the SUNY-ESF Mighty Oaks in the 2017 HVIAC Tournament Championship. Berkeley finishes their season with a record of 8-6-2.

The Panthers first chance came from a nice period of build-up play that gave Arlo Wetherbee (Derry, NH / Pinkerton Academy) space to flash a pass across the face of goal, but it could not be touched in by any of the waiting Albany attackers. ACPHS did get their first goal though just minutes later, when senior captain Kyle Jenkins (Holbrook, NY / Sachem East High School) lofted a long free kick into the Berkeley box that fooled keeper Shane Fokuo. Fokuo came out to punch but could not connect, allowing senior Jack Hanlon (Guilderland, NY / Guilderland High School) to tap the ball into the empty net for his fourth goal of the year.

Berkeley would not go down easily, equalizing in the 25^th minute through Marcos Leon. Leon received a cross from his fellow forward Matthew Perreira at the top of the box, took two dribbles towards goal, and unleashed a swerving effort that beat senior keeper Matt Houlihan (Levittown, NY / Kellenberg Memorial High School) at his far post. There was a hint of offside on the entry pass to Perreira, but the flag stayed down which allowed Leon to net his eighth of the year and knot the game at 1.

Two Panthers received yellows along with one Knight in the closing minutes of a half that saw 14 fouls in total called. The yellow card against Berkeley was not for a player though, as head coach Stavros Zomopoulos received it after arguing one of the nine offside calls against the Knights in the half. The teams went into the break even in shot attempts, with five a piece.

Berkeley had the first few chances to break the deadlock in the 2^nd half, but Houlihan made two important saves to keep the game tied. The first came when forward Meshema Charles was put through on goal by Emmanuel Poku-Adusei. Houlihan raced out of goal and absorbed Charles' effort well a save only outdone by his next. Charles was once again the shot-taker, but his attempt was partially blocked by Edward Ahanmisi (Vancouver, BC / Bodwell High). Houlihan raced backward and dove to push the ball just wide of the post before it looped behind him into the net.

ACPHS' first real chance came from a corner taken by sophomore Austin Myers (Morrisonville, NY / Saranac High) with 18 minutes left that was again mishandled by the Berkeley keeper. Fokuo's punch deflected directly to Hanlon who had an opportunity for his second goal of the game, but his header begged just wide of the post.
The team's played hard for the rest of the period, but neither could find a second goal so the game headed to overtime. In the first overtime period, only Berkeley had a chance to end the game, but a close range shot from Jovani Guzman was saved well by Houlihan to keep the Panthers in it. ACPHS did have a penalty shout in the closes seconds when Hanlon looked to be fouled in the box, but the referee did not see it that way.

In the second overtime period, Hanlon had a golden opportunity to end the game when the Panthers were awarded a penalty kick after some pushing and shoving found multiple ACPHS players down in the box. Berkeley subbed on a new keeper before Hanlon took the spot kick, but it did not matter either way as he pushed his shot wide of the net which kept the Knights alive.

Then, in a shocking turn of events, the lights went out 10pm. This made both teams wait about 15 minutes before resuming the final four minutes of the game. Berkeley had a chance to win it with the final kick after they got the lights back on, but Charles' kick rattled the crossbar with one second remaining, and the teams went to a penalty shootout.

In the penalty shootout, Houlihan saved the 2^nd and 4^th penalties to set up a redemption take for Jack Hanlon. Hanlon drilled his shot into the lower right-hand corner to give send the Panthers to the championship and he was mobbed by his teammates.

The game took just over 3 hours to complete but the Panthers will be back at it tomorrow at 3pm when they take on SUNY-ESF who won their semi-final 2-1 against the College of New Rochelle. The two teams earlier meeting ended in a 5-2 win for the Mighty Oaks.