No. 4 Hartwick and No. 6 Alfred Win First Round Games and Advance to 2023 Empire 8 Men's Soccer Semifinals

Men's Soccer | 10/28/2023 4:53:05 PM

No. 4 seed Hartwick College and No. 6 seed Alfred University emerged victorious in opening round action of the 2023 Empire 8 Men's Soccer Championship on Saturday, Oct. 28. Hartwick defeated No. 5 Utica University, 2-0 in the opening match of the day, while Alfred earned a 2-1 road win at No. 3 Nazareth University.

The Hawks won their second Empire 8 postseason game in as many years after playing as a Division I institution until 2017. Alfred won its first E8 postseason contest since 2019.

Hartwick will travel to face top seed Elmira College in the first semiinal at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1, while Alfred will head to No. 2 seed St. John Fisher at 3:30 p.m. in the second semifinal on Wednesday. Elmira defeated Hartwick on the road, 1-0 in the regular season meeting on Oct. 11, while St. John Fisher defeated Alfred by a score of 4-3 from Growney Stadium on Oct. 4.

NO. 4 HARTWICK 2, NO. 5 UTICA 0

The Hartwick Men's Soccer Team hosted Utica University for the first round of the Empire 8 Men's Soccer Championship Tournament with Hartwick coming out on top, 2-0. Hartwick improved to 8-4-4, while Utica had its season come to an end with a 5-9-3 record.

Having some momentum from the earlier attack, the team pushed down the field, Sean Burke(West Midlands, England) was able to cross a dangerous ball into the box and Timmy McQueeney(Wading River, N.Y.) was able to swoop in and score in the 42nd minute.

The opposition attempted to answer back in the closing seconds of the half but the chance was saved by Dante Gesamondo(Lynnfield, Mass.) as he picked up two saves in the half.

The second half was underway and the Hawk defense remained locked in, Jose Moreno(San Luis Potosi, Mexico) and Jace Riegel(Owego, N.Y.) did a great job in space with well timed tackles and clearing the ball with success. Time went on and the Hawks still held a firm grasp on their lead, majority of the half was spent exchanging fouls as time began to dwindle.

Kwame Amissah-Arthur(Federal Way, Wash.) would sink in a late goal after a wonderful pass into the box from Daniel Kniffen(New Paltz, N.Y) in the 88th minute to secure the victory for the Hawks.

NO. 6 ALFRED 2, NO. 3 NAZARETH 1
Christian Moon (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa) broke a 1-1 tie late in regulation to lift Alfred University to a 2-1 win over No. 3 Nazareth on Saturday afternoon. Alfred improves to 6-7-4, while Nazareth falls to 10-4-2.

The Saxons were led by Juan Jose Menendez Gutierrez (Villanueva Cañada, Madrid, Spain/Woodstock Academy) and Moon who both netted a goal in the game. Xavier Bowman (Hampstead, MD/Manchester Valley) added an assist for AU. Goalkeeper Matthew Osmundson (Draper, UT/Juan Diego Catholic) recorded six saves for Alfred.

"Great playoff win today at Naz." Head Coach Tracy Blake said. "The boys played a great tactical game, and executed what we worked on to be successful."

Alfred came into the game with an underdog mentality and was fired up to play. The Saxons and Golden Flyers traded shots early on, but no one was able to find the back of the net. After a tense first half, the teams went into the break tied 0-0. Minutes after the start of the second half, a Moon shot nearly put the Saxons up 1-0 but it was saved off the line by the Nazareth goalkeeper.

Alfred did find the first goal of the game shortly after though, as Juan Jose Menendez Gutierrez was able to give AU a 1-0 lead. The Golden Flyers didn't quit though and fired back quickly with a goal of their own just two minutes later.

In the end, the difference was a brilliant individual effort by Moon who slotted the ball into the top right corner to give Alfred the 2-1 lead with under 10 minutes left to play. The Saxon defense held strong the rest of the way and delivered Head Coach Tracy Blake his first career win over the Golden Flyers. It was also the Alfred University Men's Soccer programs first playoff win in four years.