Hoboken, NJ- Sage's men's soccer team faced the top seeded Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday night in the championship of the Empire 8 Championship. Stevens, the defending champions posted a 1-0 win after they scored the only goal of the match at 89:44 as Jonas Melendez scored his first goal of the season to lift the Ducks to the crown and a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
With the win, Stevens improves to 12-6-2 while Sage's season ends with a 10-6-2 mark and the runner-up title in their first season in the Empire 8 conference.
Stevens' goalie Aaron Henry earned the shutout win as he made three saves in the contest for the Ducks. Sage's junior keeper Michael Chiaravalloti's (Torrington, CT/Oliver Wolcott) made six saves in the match and caps his junior season with a 10-5-1 record in goal. Through the 2017 season, Chiaravalloti now has 133 career saves which is second all-time on the career save list, while holding a 14-8-3 mark in net for Sage.
Sage's senior class wraps their stellar careers having led the Gators to post-season appearances in all four years of their careers, while collecting the 2015 Skyline Conference Championship, an NCAA Tournament bid in 2015, the 2016 Skyline Conference Runner-up trophy, and this fall garnered the runner-up crown as a rookie member of the Empire 8 Conference. The Gators seniors include Paul Reynoso (Fulton, NY/G. Ray Bodley), Derlis Zayas (White Plains, NY/White Plains), Joseph Diano (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay), Heriberto Gomez (Columbiaville, NY/Ichabod Crane), and Kevin Saar (Binghampton, NY/Windsor Central) as well as graduate player, Anthony Williamson (Beacon, NY/Beacon).
Zayas finishes his career as Sage's sixth all-time leader with his 44 points, while standing fifth in career goals with 17. Reynoso finishes this for third all-time with his 13 career assists and eighth in career points with 29. Reynoso also played in 75 career games as a Gator, which is second all-time at Sage. Zayas played in 73 games at Sage (4th), while Saar's 71 games played ranks seventh highest. Gomez played in 71 games at Sage with 17 career points, while Diano played in 60 games at Sage with and helped the Gators combine for 32 shutouts as well. Williamson a two-year team captain also played in 48 games and helped to help the Gator defense during his time on the pitch.
