NEWBURGH, NY – No. 6 Sage upset no. 2 Mount Saint Mary in penalty kicks 4-2 Wednesday night to land their second Skyline Conference Championship final in a row.
Sage (7-7-5), the reigning Skyline Champion, becomes the second six seeded team to make it to the conference final in Skyline history. The only other squad to do so was Purchase in 2014. The Panthers went on to beat five seeded St. Joseph's – Long Island 2-1 in double-overtime.
After a scoreless first half, Sage's Joe Diano (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) put Sage up 1-0 in the 68th minute on a cross from Lai Le (Walnut, CA/Walnut).
Nine minutes later, Mount Saint Mary's (11-6-2) Eric Hayes hit a cross from the right wing. Matthew Minniter took a touch and Joey Dolan finished a shot to tie the game 1-1. Both teams took two shots apiece in the remainder of regulation, but the stalemate held.
After a shot from Dolan was saved by Mike Chiaravalloti (Torrington, CT/Olver Wolcott) three minutes into overtime, Sage's River Seybolt (Selden, NY/Longwood) and Christian Pinti (Slate Hill, NY/Minisink Valley) each took shots on frame, but Mount Saint Mary's Tyler Biscone saved both shots.
Dolan and Seybolt swapped shots to start the second overtime. Both attempts fell short, and a penalty kick shootout was forced.
Sage went 4-for-4 in the shootout with made shots by Seybolt, Derlis Zayas (White Plains, NY/White Plains), Paul Reynoso (Oswego, NY/G. Ray Bodley) and Alex Lanza (Poughkeepsie, NY/Speckenkill). With the Gators leading 4-2, Chiaravalloti put on the heroics and saved Mount Saint Mary's fourth round penalty shot to propel Sage into the conference championship game.
Chiaravalloti (4-2-2) came up with three saves while Biscone (11-6-1) recorded a game-high nine saves. Sage outshot the Knights 18-12 while Mount Saint Mary held the advantage on corner kicks 10-3.
Seybolt recorded a game-high eight shots followed by Kevin Saar (Binghamton, NY/Windsor Central) with four. Mount Saint Mary was led by Dolan with seven shots.
The Skyline Championship final will feature no. 6 Sage and no. 1 U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) (12-4-2) at King's Point on Sat. Nov., 5 at noon. The last time these two teams met, USMMA won 2-1 on an 89th minute goal from Tim Hughes.
Making the Trip to the championship game on Saturday, Here is a visitors' guide from USMMA
