Terriers climb back into playoff race

Perfect weekend puts SFC men's soccer in NEC contention

October 22, 2019 JT Torenli

A weekend sweep of Bryant and Robert Morris by an aggregate score of 8-0 had the St. Francis Brooklyn men's soccer team celebrating its return to serious contention for a Northeast Conference playoff spot last weekend. Photo courtesy of SFC Brooklyn Athletics.

Share this:

Backs to the wall with very little margin for error, the St. Francis Brooklyn men’s soccer team came out firing on all cylinders last weekend.

A pair of dominating shutout wins over Bryant last Friday night and Robert Morris on Sunday afternoon, both at the Poly Prep Country Day School in Bay Ridge, not only saved the Terriers’ season, but also thrust them back into the thick of the Northeast Conference playoff race.

“It was a very important weekend,” SFC head coach Tom Giovatto told the Brooklyn Eagle after his squad rolled past the Bulldogs 3-0 before stomping the Colonials 5-0.

“We really put ourselves in a big hole with our start in conference play,” he added. “I felt we played well in our losses and were a little unlucky not to get some results.”

The Terriers, who missed out on the NEC Tournament a season ago after winning four of the previous six league titles to advance to the NCAA Regionals, put up a strong 4-1-1 mark in non-conference action.

But they dropped three of their first four NEC titles, including three in a row, before catapulting back into the postseason chase with their spotless weekend sweep.

Freshman goaltender Callum James posted both shutout wins to earn NEC Rookie of the Week honors for the second time this year, making six saves while helping to steer aside 17 shots by the opposition.

But it was the Terriers’ previously dormant offense, which had managed just two tallies during their three-game skid, that came to life when SFC needed it most.

Sophomore forward El Mahdi Youssoufi scored his conference high-tying sixth goal of the year to begin the onslaught on Friday evening before senior midfielder Rahmi Shawki and junior defender Vincente Gallardo added insurance tallies against Bryant.

On Sunday against RMU, senior midfielder Kieran Young, junior forward Nicolas Molina, Shawki, junior defender Edoardo Belfanti and Gallardo had one goal apiece to get the Terriers back to .500 (3-3) in conference play.

At 7-4-1 overall with nine points against NEC foes, SFC climbed from eighth place in the conference into the coveted fourth and final playoff spot with three games remaining, beginning with Saturday’s trip to Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J.

“This weekend was a real team effort,” noted Giovatto after the Terriers scored five goals in a single contest for the first time since the 2017 NEC Title Match, when they knocked off then-Brooklyn rival LIU, 5-0.

“Keeping two clean sheets was our goal,” he noted. “Our shape from the forwards to the midfield to the back four was great. Callum was excellent in goal and did a great job directing.”

The scoring diversity meshed with James’ brilliance between the posts provided the remedy for SFC, which had played well, but unevenly in its first four conference games.

“Offensively we played our best games. We had three different goal scorers on Friday and five on Sunday,” said Giovatto. “We played at speed and put a lot of pressure on their defense. We did a great job of getting behind there defense and create chances.”

And they will have to continue doing so if they hope to stave off LIU and RMU (both tied for fifth place with seven points) over the final two weeks of the regular season.

After visiting FDU on Saturday, the Terriers will host Sacred Heart at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Nov. 3 and finish up against the now Long Island-based Sharks Nov. 10 in Brookville, N.Y.

SFC must pile up as many points as it can in those contests if it hopes to return to the NEC playoffs and vie for its fifth title in the last eight years.

“We are very excited about the results this weekend but we know we have a lot of work to do to get into the playoffs,” Giovatto ceded.

***

Mathew Barzal and the red-hot New York Islanders will look to extend their season-high four-game winning streak Thursday night when they the Arizona Coyotes at NYCB Live. AP Photo by Jay LaPrete.

In local pro sports action, the New York Islanders will carry a season-high four game winning streak into Thursday night’s contest against the Arizona Coyotes at NYCB Live, better known as the renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.

After a disappointing 1-3 start to the campaign, the Isles have pulled out a trio of narrow wins, including two in overtime and one via shootout, during their hot streak.

Following Saturday night’s 3-2 OT triumph in Columbus, the Isles received a rare four-day break before hitting the ice against the Coyotes, something players and coaches alike would prefer to avoid, especially when the team is rolling.

“Personally for me, I like playing games and getting in the swing of things,” New York center Mathew Barzal said.

“It gets a little slow with a few days off, but we’ll have two good days of practice to tune in some things and be ready to go for Thursday.”

The Isles will play three games in four days following their hiatus and then get another four days off to finish up the season’s first month, a bizarre scheduling quirk that head coach Barry Trotz is trying to offset with several practices in between.

“A lot of people make a big deal about it, but it’s part of the NHL,” Trotz said of the uneven slate. “You don’t see that a lot. When it does come up you just have to work on things.

“I thought our worth ethic was fine (in practice this week), but our details and minds weren’t as sharp. That’s more of what goes for me – the mind goes a bit and wanders and the hands go.”

After hosting the Coyotes Thursday, the Isles (5-3-0) will travel to Ottawa on Friday before returning to Long Island Sunday to host the Philadelphia Flyers.