ALBANY – Sage outshot Farmingdale State 24-10, but the Rams won 2-0 in the Gator's Skyline home opener Saturday afternoon.
Sage (1-4-3, 0-2-1 Skyline) came out of the gate early with three combined shots by River Seybolt (Seldon, NY/Longwood) and Lai Le (Walnut, CA/Walnut). Farmingdale (4-4, 3-0 Skyline) had their first chance of the game in the 10th minute when John Kender brought the ball by-line, but the forward kicked his cross into the side of the net.
After a Sarpong Adjei (Bronx, NY/DeWitt Clinton) shot was saved by Rams goalie Lucas Mallia in the 11th minute, Sage's Kyle LeClerc (Beacon, NY/Beacon) played a long through ball on the ground o Seybolt up front. The sophomore got a little touch on the ball, but not before Millia made a sliding play off his line to prevent a goal.
Seybolt took another shot in the 16th minute before Farmingdale took their first shot of the game off a Jovanni Parkinson attempt in the 20th minute, but it went high. The Gators responded two minutes later when Kevin Saar (Binghamton, NY/Windsor Central) found the feet of Seybolt who played a through ball to Adjei, but the forward's shot went high.
After a fifth shot from Seybolt in the 23rd minute, Farmingdale's Jovanni Parkinson took a shot three minutes later at the right side of the Sage net, but goalie Caelan Kohut (Southern Pines, NC/Hudson) made a diving save.
Over the next 13 minutes, Le, James Fitzpatrick (Stony Brook, NY/Ward Melville), Heriberto Gomez (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane), Derlis Zayas (White Plains, NY/ White Plains) and Paul Reynoso (Oswego, NY/G. Ray Bodley) combined for six shots for the Gators. Farmingdale broke up the run in the 39th minute when Richard Mastrangelo shot a header at the Sage net, but Kohut was there for the save.
At the start of the second half, Sage's Liam Hayes (Rensselaer, NY/Columbia) found the feet of Fitzpatrick out wide on the right. Fitzpatrick made a cross on the ground in the six yard box to a sliding Gomez, but the forward just missed the cross. A minute later, Zayas had a cross in the air to the head of Gomez that was just high. Sage kept the pressure up, and Ryan Fairweather (Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley) took a shot that went wide.
In the 55th minute, Farmingdale counter attacked, and found the back of the net. Mastrangelo played a through ball from the midfield to Kender. Kender took a touch in the box, and hit a shot on the ground to the right corner from 15 yards out.
Farmingdale carried their momentum and outshot the Gators 4-1 until Carlos Rivera scored on a shot free kick from Christian Campos to go up 2-0 in the 69th minute. Sage tried to put goals in the net, outshooting Farmingdale 7-1 over the next 20 minutes, but it would just fall short.
Mallia (1-1) was credited with his first win of the season on a 12 save effort while Kohut (1-4-3) picked up the loss with five saves. Gomez recorded a game-high six shots.
Currently on top of the table in the Skyline are Farmingdale and Merchant Marine with nine points on three wins.
Sage goes back on the road to face Skyline opponent Purchase on Wed. Sept. 28. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.