Box Score

New York, NY – Junior midfielder Aykut Can (Brooklyn, NY/Fort Hamilton) took a pass from junior Mario Baez (Astoria, NY/Long Island City) and sent it soaring past the keeper to give the Hawks 2-0 lead and eventual 2-1 victory over the College of Staten Island in a CUNY Athletic Conference men's soccer match Wednesday evening on Randall's Island.

The Hawks dominated the first half, putting pressure on the Dolphin keeper with 12 shots, 11 on goal. In one sequence, sophomore keeper Andrew Brown (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) made two big saves, but could not gain possession of the ball and on the third Hawk attempt, sophomore Mauro Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/EBC Bushwick) was able to find the back of the net to give Hunter a 1-0 lead at the 21st minute.

A little over two minutes later, Can converted on his attempt to put Hunter up 2-0 which is how the game stood at the conclusion of the first half. The Hawk defense did not give up one shot for the first 45 minutes of play.

Following a few Hunter substitutions in the second half, Dolphin junior Ahmed Elghareib (Staten Island, NY/NYS-GED) caught the Hawk defense off-guard and booted a shot past freshman Murtaza Munir (Staten Island, NY/Benjamin Banneker Academy) who had entered the game just minutes earlier, to cut the lead in half with 26 minutes left in the game. However, this would be the only goal allowed from that point on as the Hawks pickup their first win of the 2009 season.

Freshman keeper Alexandre Ilic (Miami, FL/Miami Killian Senior High) played the first 61:26 of the game, not facing any shots and earns the victory in net. Munir played the final 29 minutes, making one save and allowing one goal. Brown takes the defeat for the Dolphins, finishing with nine saves and two goals against.

Hunter improves its conference mark to 1-1 and is now 1-5-1 in the conference, while Staten Island falls to 1-8 on the year and 1-1 in the conference. Hunter returns to action on Saturday, when they head to Jamaica, NY for a rematch of last year's championship game with York College.