Second half explosion gives NYU-Poly first win; drowns Dolphins 4-1

Staten Island, NY -  It took the 2009 NYU-Poly men's soccer team nearly 240 minutes to score its first goal of the season. But, after that the flood gates opened as four different Jays found the back of the net in the second half; handing NYU-Poly a 4-1 win over College of Staten Island.  The four goals in one half sets a modern NYU-Poly record.

Coming into Wednesday's matchup, neither team had scored a goal in the young season, and after 45 minutes of play, it appeared that streak may continue. But, NYU-Poly freshmen Nick Michalczewski (Miami, FL / Chaminade Madenna) had other thoughts, as the forward pocketed the first of two tallies on the night in the 53rd minute, giving NYU-Poly its first lead of the season. Sophomore Joe Gabor (Warwick, NY / Warwick HS) picked up the assist. Moments later, it was a freshmen setting up a sophomore, as Nick Belesis (Marblehead, MA / Marblehead HS) slotted a ball between two defenders to Adam Lakawicz (Butler, NJ / Butler HS). Lakawicz came in from the left flank and got behind his defender. Off the breakaway, he calmly tucked his shot under CSI's keeper and eventually into the right side netting, putting NYU-Poly up 2-0.

The Fighting Blue Jays struck again in the 63rd minute when another freshmen, Jorge Fraga (Burke, VA / Lake Braddock Secondary) notched his first career goal off a pass from freshmen Sal DeVito (Pequannock, NJ / Pequannock Township HS). Unfortunately, inexperience set in on the young Blue Jays over the next 15 minutes, as the Dolphins controlled play and created several opportunities...finally cashing in on a rebound goal by Akwasi Appiah in the 70th minute. Andriy Sudak beat a NYU-Poly defender down the right side and his dangerous cross was turned away by Uriel Moreira (West Palm Beach, FL / Forrest Hills HS), but fell to Appiah just inside the PK spot.

Michalczewski picked up his second career goal in the 84th minute, when he first-timed a lofted pass into the box. His looping shot from just inside the box went over the keeper and came down on the goal line, bouncing into the net as a CSI defender failed on a goal line clearance attempt.

For the match, NYU-Poly outshot CSI 22-16, with Moreira stopping eight shots in his first career win. Dolphin keeper Andrew Brown made three saves in the loss. Each team earned four corner kicks. The Jays travel to Bard College this Friday and Saturday for the Raptors Classic where they will play Southern Vermont at 6:00pm Friday and Green Mountain at 1:00pm Saturday.

Men of the Match:  Michalczewski and Allen Rohr (Northridge, CA / Grenada Hills Charter)