OLD WESTBURY, NY – After drawing 1-1 after regulation and two overtimes, the no. six seeded Sage Gators upset no. three SUNY-Old Westbury in penalty kicks 4-3 on Saturday afternoon in the first round of the Skyline Championship.
Play was even in the first half with each team taking four shots apiece. Sage's (7-7-4, 5-5-1 Skyline) River Seybolt (Selden, NY/Longwood) broke the stalemate in the 48th minute off a Ryan Fairweather (Middletown, NY/Minisink Valley) assist.
42 seconds later, Old Westbury's (11-4-5, 8-2-1) Dominick Guidice responded with a goal off a cross from James Marchena.
Sage took seven straight shots over the next 27 minutes, but none of the attempts were successful. The play shifted and the Panthers took five straight shots until Seybolt took a blocked shot in the 88th minute.
Over twenty minutes of overtime, Old Westbury outshot sage 2-1, but the tie remained and forced overtime.
After going down 1-0 in the shutout, Sage's Derlis Zayas (White Plains, NY/White Plains), Paul Reynoso (Oswego, NY/G. Ray Bodley), Alex Lanza (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) and Christian Pinti (Slate Hill, NY/Minisink Valley) scored four straight penalty kicks to beat Old Westbury 4-3 in the shootout with Mike Chiaravalloti (Torrington, CT/Oliver Wolcott) coming up with two big saves for the Gators.
Chiaravalloti (4-2-1) earned the win on a one save effort while Old Westbury's Mike Warren (10-4-5) picked up the loss on four saves. Sage held a 7-6 advantage on corners while Seybolt had a game-high seven shots.
The Gators will face the Knights of Mount Saint Mary (11-6-1, 10-1 Skyline) on the road in the Skyline semifinals on Wed. Nov., 2 at 7 p.m. Earlier this year, Mount Saint Mary beat Sage at home 1-0.
