Staten Island, NY – The Hunter men's soccer team ended a nine year drought on Saturday afternoon, defeating the defending champion York College Cardinals with a 3-2 advantage in penalty kicks following two overtime periods to earn the program's first CUNYAC Championship since the 1999 season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

This was the second time the Hawks have won a conference title on penalty kicks with the last time coming in 1995 when they defeated CCNY 4-2 in PK's, earning the program's first conference championship.

Hunter took a 1-0 lead in the first half on a goal from sophomore forward Danny Vera (Orange County, CA/Mater Dei), who hit the top left corner of the net on a pass from freshman forward Devin Leahy (Manhattan, NY/Trevor Day). Clinging to the 1-0 lead, the Hawks seemed to have control of the game at the 88th minute mark, however an aggressive defensive play in the box resulted in a penalty kick and eventual game-tying goal by York College with 1:20 left in regulation.

The Cardinals controlled the ball during most of the two overtime periods, gaining a couple breakaway chances at the net, but Hunter's Noah Fessler (Metuchen, NJ/Metuchen) stepped up and played the best game of his career in net, preventing any chance of the Cardinals getting the victory.

In the shootout, York led 1-0 after the first two attempts, but clanked a shot off the cross bar on their second attempt. The Hawks tied things up following a good attempt by junior Oscar Dotti (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck). Each team would take two more attempts, converting one a piece. Fessler then made a huge save on York's fourth attempt and then Leahy sent a shot to the bottom right corner, out of the reach of the York keeper to seal the deal for the Hawks.

Vera was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player, leading the Hawks with two assists and one goal.

Last season, the Hawks finished the regular season in last place with a 2-13-1 record. This season, the team finished the regular season standing atop the CUNYAC with a 9-7-1 overall and 6-1-1 CUNYAC record and following Saturday's victory, completed the turnaround from last to first.

The Hawks close out the conference tournament with an 11-7-2 record and will now represent the CUNYAC in the NCAA Championship Tournament which begins on Wednesday, November 12. The tournament seeding, locations and opponents will be announced on Monday morning by the NCAA Selection committee. The Hawks earn an automatic bid by winning the conference title which was awarded to the CUNYAC in 1999, the last the Hunter won a conference title.