Albany, NY—Russell Sage College's men's soccer team hosted the Saxons of Alfred University in the first round of the 2021 Empire 8 Men's Soccer Tournament. Seeded third, the Gators advanced with a 4-1 win over No. 6 seeded Alfred University on Wednesday night. The Gators will face No. 2 seeded Houghton College in the semifinals on Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m.
With the win on Wednesday, RSC is now 4-2 overall, while Alfred's season comes to a wrap with a record of 0-6.
RSC's junior Christian Vaaulstuen (Lillestrom, Norway) put the Gators on the scoreboard at the 1:32 mark for his second goals the year. Senior Jeaneste Pierre (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) scored the next two goals for RSC at the 6:01 and 26:25 mark to give RSC a 3-0 lead. Pierre, who leads the Gators in scoring this spring and now has four goals, elevating his career total to 13 goals and 29 points.
Rookie midfielder Vinny Terrone (Westbury, NY/Carle Place) capped the scoring with his tally at 39:25 as the Gators took a 4-0 lead into the halftime.
Alfred's junior Mason Sanborn (Wappingers Falls, NY/Roy C. Ketcham) broke up the shutout bid with his first goal of the year at the 83:12 mark.
For the game, RSC's rookie keeper Anthony Molina (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) made six saves with one goal allowed and is now 4-2 in net. Alfred's rookie keeper Daniel Koenig (Hopewell Junction, NY/John Jay) suffered the loss after making four saves with four goal allowed in his 90 minutes of work. He falls to 0-5 on the year.
