Abdella paces Terriers past Brown

Fort Hamilton alum gets goal and assist in 41-second span

September 20, 2022 John Torenli, Sports Editor

SFC Brooklyn celebrated its second straight win Sunday at Brooklyn Bridge Park after blanking Brown, 3-0. Photo courtesy of SFC Brooklyn Athletics

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The St. Francis Brooklyn men’s soccer team will enter the Northeast Conference portion of its schedule next weekend with some serious momentum thanks to grad student striker Khaled Abdella.

The Fort Hamilton High School alum and Brooklyn native scored his third goal of the year and recorded an assist on Corrado Carbone’s tally 41 second later, sparking the Terriers to a 3-0 blanking of Brown Sunday afternoon at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Abdella, who had two goals and an assist during the Terriers’ two-game winning streak last week, got things started against Brown by heading a cross off the foot of Jaydon Humphries past netminder Henrik Weiper at the 20:27 mark of the first half to open the scoring.

The NEC Prime Performer set up Carbone for his second goal of the campaign at 21:08 to make it 2-0.

The Terriers (3-3-1) got an insurance tally off an own goal by Brown early in the second half, but it was SFC goalie Alec McLachlan, who earned Prime Performer honors with Abdella and Carbone this week, that made the lead stand up.

Making his third start of the year, the freshman sensation stopped three shots to lower his goals-against average to a miniscule 1.00 going into SFC’s NEC opener vs. Howard here at BPP next Sunday.

Over at Long Island University, the Sharks reeled off their third straight win and second in a row that came down to a last-minute goal from junior striker Emil Jaaskelainen.

Matthias Heiland and the defending NEC champion LIU Sharks will open their conference slate Sunday vs. Central Connecticut State. Photo courtesy of LIU Athletics

The First-Team All-NEC selection, who bailed LIU out with a penalty kick in the 89th minute of last Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Manhattan, used his head this time, knocking one into the next with just over a minute remaining en route to a 1-0 blanking of Columbia at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.

Robert Winkler got the assist for the Sharks (5-2), who blanked the Lions behind four saves from goalie Gianluca Cersosimo.

LIU, the preseason favorite to win the NEC for the second straight year, was schedule to host Hartford Tuesday in Brookville, N.Y., before opening its conference slate at home vs. Central Connecticute State on Sunday.

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On the women’s side, SFC’s women’s squad earned back-to-back draws before last Thursday’s 2-1 setback at NEC rival Merrimack in the conference opener for both teams.

Senior defender Trystan Thompson-Cotterell scored her first career goal in the defeat and was named an NEC Prime Performer.

The tally came at 2:39 of the first half, but didn’t hold up as Rebecca Hardy and Molly Murnane answered with second-half goals for Merrimack (3-4-2, 1-0 NEC).

Klil Keshwar made four saves for the Terriers (1-4-3, 0-1), who will take another stab at their first NEC win Sunday at Fairleigh Dickinson in Teaneck, N.J.

The Sharks (2-6-2, 0-1-1) remained winless in their last seven matches despite battling to a scoreless draw with NEC foe Sacred Heart Sunday in Brookville, N.Y.

Trystan Trystan Thompson-Cotterell scored her first career goal for SFC and was named an NEC Prime Performer. Photo courtesy of SFC Brooklyn Athletics

Netminder Kayla DeTreux came up with three key saves for LIU, which will be looking for its first win since Aug. 25 when it visits Stonehill Thursday in North Easton, Massachusetts.

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At Division III Brooklyn College, the men’s squad suffered a tough 1-0 setback to visiting Old Westbury on Saturday to fall to 0-6-1 on the season despite three saves by Hady Bakry.

The BC women (0-5) got blanked 3-0 on Saturday by Mitchell College at Brooklyn College Field.