ACPHS lost their final non-conference game of the season last Thursday, falling to the Berkeley College-New Jersey Knights 4-3. After the contest, the Panthers were 5-8 while the Knights improved to 7-9.
The Knights got the scoring started early, grabbing their first goal in the 7
th after a poor giveaway by the ACPHS defense let Berkeley freshman Marcos Hidalgo get a free shot on goal. The forward didn't give Panther goalie
Ryan Hobson (Red Hook, NY / Red Hook High School) any chance to save the effort, guiding in his third goal of the year to put Berkeley up 1-0. ACPHS found an equalizer in the 22
nd minute, when freshman forward
Anes Bostandzic (Utica, NY / Proctor High School) won a penalty that junior
Noah Keith (Rotterdam, NY / CBA) slotted home for his fifth goal of the year. The tie was short lived though, as some more sloppy defending from the Panthers let Hidalgo one-on-one with Hobson again in the 31
st minute. This time Hidalgo rounded the freshman and passed the ball into the empty net to restore Berkeley's one-goal lead. The score was 2-1 Berkeley when the teams went to halftime, with the Knights leading the Panthers in shots 8-6.
The Panthers came out of the break firing on all cylinders, grabbing two goals in the opening 30 minutes to grab a lead of their own. The first came in the 58
th minute, when freshman defender
Frank Cassano intercepted a pass and curled an effort into the top corner of Berkeley's goal from outside of the box. Keith got on the scoresheet once again in the 74
th minute, when he floated a long free cross into the box that somehow found the back of the net. ACPHS would only lead for 30 seconds though, as they conceded an own-goal just 30 seconds later. With the teams tied at three in the 86
th minute, Berkeley was awarded a penalty and a chance to win the game outright. Freshman Christopher Azevedo was chosen to take the spot kick, and he sent Hobson the wrong way for his third goal of the year. ACPHS created just one more chance down one, but were unable to convert it. They outshot the Knights 16-6 in the second half, but in the end were unable to overcome some costly mistakes at the back.
The Panthers would go on to win their two weekend contests against Vaughn and The Culinary Institute of America. Recaps for those contests can be found at acphsathletics.com.