Men’s Soccer Blanks Fighting Tigers In Season Finale

AURORA, N.Y. – Six different players found the back of the net for the Wells College men's soccer team en route to a 6-0 blanking of the Fighting Tigers of SUNY Cobleskill Saturday afternoon at the South Athletic Field. With the victory, the Express conclude their season with an overall record of 8-8 (5-5 NEAC) while the Fighting Tigers fall to 3-13-1 overall on the year (2-8 NEAC).

Midfielder Adam Sullivan (Ithaca, N.Y.) scored his third goal of the season at 8:13 of the first half to place the Express on top for good in the contest. Collecting a feed from Charles Naula (Wappinger Falls, N.Y.), Sullivan rang the crossbar behind Fighting Tigers goaltender Mack Curran. The ball was ruled to have crossed the goal line by the near side linesman, awarding the Express a 1-0 lead.

Defenseman Luke Miller (New Hartford, N.Y.) converted his third career penalty kick at 22:04 of the first half, tying the all-time record held by Corey Fischer (2007-09) while ending his four year career a perfect 3-for-3 record on penalty kicks. Within the box, a SUNY Cobleskill player upended an Express player prior to a whistle, granting Miller the opportunity for his third goal of the season.

Sullivan recorded his second goal of the game to open the second half, forcing home a cross from Jonathan De La Cruz (Woodbridge, Va.) for his fourth goal of the year. De La Cruz was later rewarded with a goal of his own as he headed home two quick passes by Miller and freshman Kristofer Alestalo (Jamesville, N.Y.), placing the Express ahead by a 4-0 margin.

Alestalo recorded his first collegiate goal at 79:12 of the contest, elevating the Express to a 5-0 lead. Streaking up the right side of the field, freshman Alex Vargas (Woodbridge, Va.) passed a ball through his left to Alestalo, crashing the goal mouth and beating Curran to his right for the strike. Wyatt Buerkle (Cincinnatus, N.Y.) scored his team leading fourth goal of the year in the waning minutes, adding extra insurance for the Express.

Express goaltenders C.J. Bayly (Waymart, Pa.) and Dominic Finch (Orlando, Fla.) combined for the team's seventh shutout of the season. Bayly played the game's first 58 minutes before yielding to Finch, who made the lone save of the game for the Express. Curran drew the loss for the Fighting Tigers, allowing six goals on 13 shots on net.

In a pre-game ceremony, Miller was honored for his contributions to the men's soccer program across the previous four seasons. Miller will graduate Wells College this spring with a degree in Chemistry and graduates as the program record holder with 70 games played and 5,141 minutes played. Additionally, Miller exits ranked third all-time in penalty kicks made (3) and penalty kick attempts (3), seventh all-time in assists (3), eighth all-time in goals (5) and ninth all-time in points (5-3=15).

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