College Beat: Terriers tame Bison

Giovatto earns 50th win as St. Francis powers past Howard

September 17, 2013 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Gabriel Bagot.jpg

Share this:

After christening their new home at Brooklyn Bridge Park with an impressive 3-1 victory over Saint Peter’s last Tuesday night, the St. Francis College men’s soccer club traveled to our nation’s capital eager to build on its best offensive performance of the young season.

Thanks to a pair of tallies by Northeast Conference Player of the Week Kevin Correa and yet another score off the talented foot of Gabriel Bagot, the Terriers (3-2) did just that on Saturday afternoon at Washington D.C.’s Greene Stadium, rolling to a 4-1 rout of Howard University.

“I thought we played well today and it was an overall good team effort,” said St. Francis coach Tom Giovatto, who notched his 50th career win at the Remsen Street school

“The boys responded well after giving up an early goal,” added Giovotto, whose team has put up seven goals in two games after managing just three in its first three contests of the campaign.

“They stuck with the game plan and good things happened. We had solid contributions from everyone today. Its’ good to see Kevin (Correa) and Gabriel (Bagot) scoring. I thought that Kristoffer (Lindfors) and Viktor (Bakkioui) along with all the reserves gave us valuable minutes today.”

Correa, the reigning NEC Rookie of the Year, has at least one goal in four consecutive games and five for the season. He evened things up at 1-1 on Saturday afternoon after Howard’s Rahman Alarape opened the scoring in the 16th minute.

Correa’s first tally came in the 39th minute and his second snapped the deadlock in the 78th before Lindfors and Bagot, who scored twice against St. Peter’s in the home opener, settled matters late with one goal each.

The Terriers will hit the pitch again on Sunday morning when they visit Manhattan College at Gaelic Park.

***

The LIU-Brooklyn men’s team finally got off the schneid Friday night in Riverdale, N.Y., posting its first win of the season with a 2-0 blanking of Manhattan College.

After being outscored, 6-0, during an 0-3-1 start to the campaign, coach TJ Kostecky’s squad finally hit the back of the net in the first half when Nathan Stewart scored off a feed from sophomore midfielder Nahuel Medina.

Tanner Sica added an insurance tally in the 74th minute and senior goalie John Connolly stopped six shots for the Blackbirds, who were headed to Lawrenceville, N.J. on Tuesday for a late-afternoon showdown with Rider.

***

Despite Sunday’s tough 1-0 loss at Harvard, the LIU-Brooklyn women’s soccer squad continued to pick up some impressive individual accolades as freshman Tori Shinkowitz was named the NEC Women’s Soccer Rookie of the Week for her breakthrough performance in last week’s 5-1 rout of Saint Peter’s in Jersey City, N.J.

Shinkowitz had a goal and an assist in the victory for the Blackbirds, who dropped to 2-4-1 with Sunday’s loss to the Crimson.

The two-time defending NEC champions, who rallied from a dismal 2-7-2 start to register 10 wins last season, will return to action Friday night when they travel to Delaware before Sunday’s home tilt against Towson.

Shinkowitz follows fellow first-year standout Jenn Peters, who was named the NEC Rookie of the Week on Sept. 3.

***

If the non-conference portion of its schedule is any indicator. the Brooklyn College women’s soccer program is ready to take the CUNYAC by storm this season.

Team captain Shani Abrahams and freshman Jordan Kerwin each scored twice Monday night at BC Field as the Lady Bulldogs stomped Brooklyn rival NYU-Poly, 6-0, to improve to 5-0 during a sparkling start to their second year of existence as a Division III program.

“I was pleased to see that we played hard and were able to convert on many of our first half opportunities,” said BC coach and program founder Patrick Horne of his undefeated team. “We are improving with each game and look forward to seeing how good we can be as we enter conference play.”

The Bulldogs, who went 6-7-1 during their inaugural campaign before falling short of the CUNYAC playoffs, will begin league play Wednesday at York before Saturday’s CUNYAC match at Lehman.

***

The BC men got two goals from senior Dmitry Prokorfyev en route to a 3-0 victory over NYU-Poly last Friday afternoon.

Senior Taras Frankivskyy also scored for the Bulldogs (2-2), who will host Farmingdale State Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

“We showed a sense of hunger and determination throughout the game,” said Bulldogs coach Rawle Hensford. “We deserved the victory and we hope to build on this result.”

***

In other local college sports news, LIU-Brooklyn junior volleyball star Annika Foit was once again named NEC Player of the Week on Monday after leading the Blackbirds to a 3-0 mark at the 2013 Blackbird Invitational.

Foit, a junior opposite, earned the honor for the third time this season after receiving MVP accolades for her stellar performance during the annual tournament. She collected 65 kills, 49 digs, seven block assists and five services aces across three matches, recording her fifth double-double of the campaign with 22 kills and 22 digs during a five-set thriller with Cornell.

Foit has been tabbed Player of the Week an astounding nine times over the past two seasons, in addition to the four Rookie of the Week awards she notched as a freshman in 2011, putting her on pace to become one of the most-decorated Blackbirds ever.

***

The LIU Brooklyn men’s golf team put together an impressive first round at the season-opening Leo Keenan Invitational on Monday.

Led by freshman George Williams, the Blackbirds shot 292 and are in second place, five strokes behind NEC rival Robert Morris.

***

Over at St. Francis, the Terriers’ nationally ranked men’s water polo squad improved to 5-3 on Sunday with a pair of 11-9 victories over Brown and Navy, respectively.

Balint Toth scored three goals against Brown and Lazar Komadinic added six tallies against the Midshipmen while Igot Mladenovic stopped a combined 18 shots during the two-match sweep for the 12th-ranked Terriers, who are hoping to make their second straight NCAA Final Four appearance later this year.