Albany, NY – The Sage Colleges' men's soccer team hosted the Statesmen of Hobart College on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2013 ECAC Metro Men's Soccer Tournament. Seeded No. 4, the Gators beat Hobart, the No. 5 seed, 3-1 to advance to the semifinals on November 16 at No. 3 seeded FDU-Florham at a time to be determined. With the win, Sage improves to 11-4-4, while Hobart's year ends with a record of 11-8-1.
Sage's rookie midfielder Kyle LeClerc (Beacon, NY/Beacon) put the Gators on the scoreboard first with his tally on a feed from senior defender Kevin Dommreis (LaGrangeville, NY/Millbrook) at 18:35. Less than three minutes later, the Gators took a 2-0 lead as junior midfielder Gustavo Trinidad (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck) converted the feed from rookie midfielder Christian Pinti (Slate Hill, NY/Minisink Valley) at the 21:18 mark.
LeClerc struck again just before the half on a corner kick on a pass from the left side on a corner kick from Trinidad at 25:16.
On the season, Trinidad leads the Gators in scoring with 28 points on 10 goals and eight assists, while also connecting for eight game-winning goal, including today's. LeClerc is the team's second leading point scorers with his eight points as he has three goals with two assists.
Leading 3-0 at the half, the Gators gave up a goal in the final five seconds of the match as Hobart's sophomore defender Tyler Niles (Narbeth, PA/Lower Merion) scored on the feed from freshman midfielder Charlie Kelly (Liverpool, England) at the 89:55 mark. The goal was the second of the year for Niles as the Statesmen season comes to an end.
Sage's sophomore goalkeeper TJ Zehner (Beacon, NY/Beacon) made three saves in the contest with one goal allowed as he improves to 2-0-2. Hobart's junior Mike Lucas (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel Area) made the start with three goals allowed in 45 minutes of work. He was relieved at the break by sophomore Tyler Serafine (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua), who made three saves.
Sage advances to the semifinals and will play against William Paterson, which advanced on penalty kicks over top seeded Drew University. The semifinal games will take place on November 16 with the championship game following on November 17 on the campus os FDU-Florham (Florham, NJ). A year ago, Sage won the 2012 ECAC Upstate Men's Soccer Division III Championship.