Box Score BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Felician University men's soccer team earned its first road victory of 2017 when it defeated host Concordia (N.Y.) College, 1-0, on Wednesday afternoon at Holtdorf Field. An unassisted 14th-minute goal by Felician freshman Leo Yang (Palisades Park, N.J.) proved to be the game's only scoring.
Felician (4-4-1, 3-1-1 CACC) matched its victory total for all of last season, when it was 4-11-2. The Golden Falcons snapped a six-game road winless streak dating back to last season, and defeated Concordia for the first time since 2012. The Clippers (2-5, 1-4) were the 2016 CACC regular-season champions.
After having a shot saved by Concordia goalkeeper Jaime Gonzalez (Madrid, Spain) in the ninth minute, Yang soon gained another go at the junior netminder. He gained possession from a Clipper player near midfield, dribbled into the 18-yard box, and beat Gonzalez with a low shot 13 minutes, five seconds, into the game.
The hosts actually out-shot Felician, 7-4, in the opening period. Three saves by Golden Falcon senior John Burns (Saddle Brook, N.J.), including a difficult one 27 seconds after Yang's goal, allowed the visitors to carry the 1-0 edge into halftime.
The Felician defense, especially the starting back line of freshman Jason Diaz (Hawthorne, N.J.), sophomore Conor McKenna (Navan, Ireland), and juniors Jovan Poggi (Lyndhurst, N.J.) and Steward Salazar (Summit, N.J./Summit), clamped down from there. All four defenders played the entire 90 minutes and made it difficult for Concordia to create strong opportunities.
Felician secured the victory by successfully defending a Clipper corner kick with 90 seconds remaining. Burns faced 14 shots and made six saves in the first shutout of his career. Concordia junior John Reed (Longford, Ireland) led all players with six shot attempts; Yang got off half of Felician's 10 shots. Gonzalez was credited with five saves in defeat.
The teams were whistled for a combined 40 fouls (20 each).
Felician has won three of its first five conference games for the first time since 2005.
The Golden Falcons return home to take on the Jefferson Rams (formerly Philadelphia University), the CACC's first-place team, as part of Felician's Homecoming Weekend on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Lyndhurst.
