Patchogue, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's soccer team travelled to St. Joseph's College (LI) for the Skyline Conference opener for both teams. The Golden Eagles, the league's defending champions were picked first in the pre-season Coaches' Poll, while the Gators were picked a close second in the poll.
After Saturday's match, the Gators emerged with a lead in the race for the conference crown after they tallied a 4-3 overtime win. The victory puts Sage at 3-3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Skyline Conference. St. Joe's drops to 1-8 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Sage's junior midfielder Gustavo Trinidad (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) struck first in the action with a goal at 30:35, before the Golden Eagles answered right back with a goal just before the half from Terrence Fabio Alves gave his team a 2-1 lead with a goal at 57:06.
Sophomore midfielder Luis Teran (Farmingville, NY/Newfield) connected for a goal at 82:25 on a feed from sophomore defender Tyler Sivulich (Rhinebeck, NY/Red Hook). The game saw another lead change as Alves scores minutes later at 85:43 for his second goal of the afternoon.
Trinidad was awarded a penalty kick with four minutes left in regulation and converted the attempt to give the Gators and St. Joe's a 3-3 tie and send the match into overtime.
In the overtime period freshman AlexLanza (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) connected for the game-winner at the 97:40 mark and lifted Sage to the opening day win in conference play. The goal was the first of the year for Lanza, while Trinidad has taken the lead in the scoring race with his four goals this year and now has 15 career goals, 17 career assists for 47 points with four career game-winning goals.
Sage's senior keeper Tim Madden (Watertown, NY/Watertown) recorded four saves in the action.
Sage returns to action on September 28 travelling to the College of Mt. St. Vincent for a Skyline Conference contest which will be played at Manhattan College's Gaelic Park.