Newtown, Pa. - The Bucks men's soccer team shook off the rust to defeat former conference rivals, Northampton Community College by a score of 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at Centurion Soccer Field.
The Spartans put the Centurions on their heels early when they scored just 3 minutes into the game. Bucks then settled down and push forward and equaliszed in the 27th minute when Alihan Turkmen (Bensalem, PA/Bensalem) floated a shot just over the Northampton's goalkeeper's reach.
The second half started with each team having opportunities, but it was the host who broke the tie when co-captain, Christopher Clark (Morrisville, PA/Pennsbury) crossed the ball to a streaking Alan Olivares (Fairless Hills, PA/Pennsbury) who slid the ball into the net. Just 2 minutes later, the visitors capitalized on gaps in the defense, dribbled through and beat the outstretched hands of goalkeeper, Luis Beletzuy (Morrisville, PA/Morrisville). In the 72nd minute, Clark had his 2nd assist of the game finding freshman midfielder, Gabriel Meira (Telford, PA/Pennridge) on the corner of the box, who then fired the ball in the corner of the goal to give Bucks at 3-2 lead. In the 77th minute, Meira's free kick cross found the head of sophomore, Zachary Shefshsky (Holland, PA/Council Rock South) who put the Centurions up 4-2. Northampton kept battling and scored once more with 5 minutes remaining but could not find the equalizer.
"Even though we had a two and half week layoff and missed a lot of players, the guys showed they want to compete" commented Head Coach Justin Burroughs, "Luis (Beletzuy) came up with some big saves for us today; Alihan (Turkmen) was big in the midfield and defense as well as Peter (Overby) and Alan (Olivares). I'm proud of the guys and also want to thank the many alumni who showed up to support us today!"
The win improves Bucks to 3-3-0 overall, while Northampton drops to 4-4-0 on the season.
The Centurions are back in action on Friday, October 15th when they host NCAA Division 3 team, Eastern University, with kick-off scheduled for 3:30pm.
