College Beat: Maabdi leads St. Francis past Rider; BC blanks Berkeley; LIU ladies fall

September 19, 2012 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Bagot%20Mabdi.jpg
Bagot%20Mabdi.jpg
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Senior midfielder Adam Maabdi assisted on one goal and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 77th minute Monday afternoon as the St. Francis College men’s soccer team posted its second straight impressive victory, 3-1, over Rider at Ben Cohen Field in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Maabdi, who set up sophomore forward Kevin Correa’s team-leading fourth goal in the 32nd minute, snapped a 1-1 deadlock with just over 12 minutes to play in regulation when he beat Rider goalie Jason Giordano with his third tally of the campaign, helping the Terriers improve to 3-4 this season.

Freshman midfielder Viktor Bakkioui added an insurance goal in the 85th minute as St. Francis built on Saturday’s 3-0 blanking of Howard University at Brooklyn’s Aviator Sports Complex.

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The Terriers, who will be back in action Friday night against visiting Manhattan College, had more than 30 former Terriers and their families came out to the Howard game to play in a special alumni contest.

 “The event was a great success and we are fortunate to have such a great group of guys that still want to remain active and support the program,” said SFC Alumni Director Dennis McDermott.  The alums were split into two teams, the grey team and the white team, and fittingly the result ended in a 5-5 draw.”

“My kids love meeting our former players,” said Terriers head coach Tom Giovatto.“I’m happy that we were able to send them home happy with a big victory.”

Former Terrier Joe Barone (’89) played a major role in organizing the event and stated: “It’s great to be here and see all of the guys from the past.  At the end of the day it’s about the memories that were created and being able to share them with our families.”

Barone presented a special trophy to his former SFC head coach Carlo Tramontozzi during a reception to highlight the day.

***

The Brooklyn College men’s squad improved to 3-3 with its second shutout of the season Monday night, blanking Berkeley College, 6-0.

 “Tonight was a very solid all-around team performance,” said Bulldogs head coach Rawle Hensford. “We were very effificent moving the ball forward and capitalizing on our opportunities. We also did well defensively snuffing out the chances they had.”
 
Junior Pajtim Gjonbalaj of Brooklyn’s FDR High School scored two goals, getting BC off to a strong start when he picked up a miscue by the Berkeley netminder and gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the third minute. Gjonbalaj tallied again in the 19th minute off a feed from junior Alwyn Adams and third-year forward Taras Frankivskyy, junior Kingsley Boakye, junior Peterson Petit Frere and freshman Hassn Wehbeh added goals for the Bulldogs, who were schedule to host CUNYAC rival CCNY on Wednesday evening.

Xaverian High School alum Stamatis Boundouris made three saves for BC, which has won three of five since a season-opening loss to NYU.

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The defending Northeast Conference champion LIU-Brooklyn women’s soccer team won’t exactly league play on a hot streak.

The Blackbirds (2-6), who will officially begin defense of their title with Friday’s match against Robert Morris in Moon Township, Pa., have dropped three of their last four games, including Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Delaware at LIU Field.

Emily Market beat Blackbird goalie Jennifer Bannon from 12 yards out in the 33rd minute for the game’s lone tally as LIU was outshot, 12-3, by the visiting Blue Hens.

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The LIU men’s squad squandered an early one-goal lead in a 2-1 loss to La Salle in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman Nahuel Medina had four shots on goal for the Blackbirds, one of which resulted in an own goal by La Salle that proved to be LIU’s only score of the contest.

Senior netminder Nathan Stockie had nine saves for the Blackbirds, who will host Columbia Saturday evening.

***

The Skyline Conference has named NYU-Poly sophomore forward Andres Torres its Soccer Player of the Week on Monday night.

Torres had a very productive week, scoring a pair of goals in both of the Jays’ victories. He scored twice in the Jays 5-1 Skyline victory over Purchase on Sept. 10, and tallied twice more in an 8-0 rout of St. Joseph’s Brooklyn on Saturday.  

Torres is tied for the Skyline Conference lead with six goals on the season, and is ranked 24th nationally in goals per game average with 1.0.

Teammate and senior midfielder Allen Rohr was selected to the Honor Roll for recording four assists on the week ,including a school record three in one game against Purchase. Rohr ranks second in the country with six assists on the season.

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LIU-Brooklyn's Annika Foit earned her second NEC Player of the Week award on Monday. Photo courtesy of LIU-Brooklyn Athletics
 

Sophomore Annika Foit became the fourth straight Blackbird to capture NEC Volleyball Player of the Week honors Monday.

The opposite from Hausach, Germany, was named NEC Player of the Week for the second time this season after leading the Blackbirds to a 2-2 record last week. Foit finished the week with 61 kills for a 3.81 kills per set average and a .226 hitting average. She also tallied eight service aces through four matches.

Foit hit .267 and .270 against opponents in the Blackbirds’ wins over Hofstra and NJIT, and .296 in their loss to Atlantic Coast Conference foe Maryland. Foit leads the team with 188 kills on the season, hitting .209 overall.

LIU will host Sacred Heart on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s NEC Championship Game.

***

The St. Francis men’s water polo squad suffered yet another gutwrenching loss to Brown over the weekend, falling in the finals of the North/South Division Tournament, 8-7, on Sunday afternoon.

It was the second one-goal loss in as many meetings with the Bears this season for St. Francis (4-3), which got 10 saves from goalie Igor Mladenovic.

Marko Genic had two goals for the Terriers, who had a three-match winning streak stopped. St. Francis topped Mercyhurst College, 13-7, and eged Bucknell, 8-7, on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass., before falling to the rival Bears.

The Terriers will visit Brown in Providence on Saturday after taking on Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., on Friday night.

Here’s hoping the third time’s the charm against the feisty Bears.


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