November 4, 2011
FOR ALL THE MARBLES
Lehman vs. Baruch for CUNYAC crown

Lehman College and Baruch College will tussle for the City University of New York Athletic Conference championship at Randall's Island on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Both teams won their respective semifinals at Aviator Field in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Wednesday.

The winner will clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament, which starts Thursday.

Lehman College 2, Hunter College 0

Last year Hunter College ended Lehman's men's season as the Hawks defeated the Lightning, 2-0, in the final.

But on Wednesday, it was Lehman's chance to flip the script with the Lightning emerging victorious by the same 2-0 score, behind two goals from star forward Oumar Niang and some timely goalkeeping by Marcos Coto-Batres.

Following three quality chances – one each by Thaddeus Ikwuka, Will Arbieto-Lopez and Guihounou Guede that were turned aside by Hunter keeper Zade Haobsh – the Lightning finally broke through in the 13th minute courtesy of Niang. Selected to shoot a penalty kick for a foul in the goal box, Niang drilled the match's first goal into the lower left corner past a diving Haobsh for the 1-0 lead.

In the 32nd minute, Niang struck again, this time warding off a Hunter defender on his way to the net before beating Haobsh for a second time and a 2-0 Lightning lead. Niang has tallied 14 goals.

Baruch 5, York 0

Five players scored to lead the Bearcats to a 5-0 rout of the Cardinals.

It was a surprising result, considering the Cardinals defeated the Bearcats convincingly by a 3-0 score in a regular-season contest earlier this season. However, it was all Baruch, as the Bearcats controlled the match from the onset. The Cardinals returned to the site where they won the 2007 CUNYAC title and were hoping the result would be the same this year, but it was not the Cardinal's night.

The Bearcats, who are jointly coached by Ranford Champagnie and Dima Kamenshchik, will be playing in their third all-time championship match (others are 2004 and 2006).

Kyle Keague opened the scoring at 14:38 on an assist from Akil George. The Bearcats added a second goal at 28:15 by George unassisted to take a 2-0 halftime lead.

They continued to pressure York and were rewarded with three unassisted goals in the second half by Jean Zambrano (60:32), Jonas Juozaitis (69:28) and Ifeanyi Nnoham (76:50) to even their record at 8-8-1.

Goalkeeper Michael Murphy posted his first shutout of the season with six saves.

York finished at 7-12 record.