EXPRESS FALTER IN SECOND HALF; FALL TO SUNYIT

Aurora, NY– The SUNY IT Wildcats scored twice in the second half as the No. 2 seed Wildcats defeated the No. 7 seed Wells College Express 2-0 in the quarterfinal round of the North Eastern Athletic Conference men's soccer tournament on Thursday afternoon in Aurora. Handy Eugene(Vestal, NY/Vestal) and Dennis Owusu-Ansah(Bronx, NY/Harry S. Truman) each tallied goals for the Wildcats while Express goalie Mike Birklin(Cicero, NY/North-Cicero Syracuse) finished with 12 saves in the loss.

The Wildcats came out strong in the first half firing 14 shots on net, but the Express defense would not break, led by Birklin's six saves, the game remained scoreless through the first half of play.

The Wildcats continued to pressure the Express in the second half, drawing a foul from 20-yards out in the 54^th minute. Jason Conklin(Copperstown, NY/Mohawk Valley CC) would take the free kick and service the ball  into the box as Eugene headed the feed past Birklin for the 1-0 lead.

Eight minutes later the Wildcats added to their lead as Emelio Haughton (Bronx, NY/MLK) lofted a corner kick over the Express defense finding Owusu-Ansah for a header and a 2-0 lead. The Wildcats defense took over from there shutting down the Express offense and cruising to the 2-0 victory.

The Wildcats outshot the Express 30-6 and held a 12-2 advantage in corner kicks. Wildcat goalie Kurt Makowski(Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) finished with four saves in the win.

The No. 2 seed Wildcats now advance to the NEAC semifinals against No. 3 seed Cazenovia on Saturday, November 7^th at 1:00 pm at Wells College in Aurora, NY.