MARCY, N.Y. – Coach Peterson Jerome had only one thing to say after SUNYIT super-goalie Malick Faye (Bronx, N.Y. / MLK) recorded his 7th shutout of the season in a 2-0 victory over SUNY New Paltz:
"He's Spiderman."
Faye was brilliant in goal as usual, but made one play in particular that had everyone shaking their heads in amazement. Nursing a 1-0 lead in the second half, a New Paltz attacker let off a long, high kick into the penalty box. Faye came out into the fray to defend against the header, but appeared to be knocked down on the play. The ball sputtered away, and one of the Hawks was able to put a weak header on it. It appeared to be enough as the ball lumbered towards the empty net – and then out of nowhere Faye was there, with a full-extension dive to stop the ball just inches from the goal line.
Faye leads the NEAC conference with an absurd .915 save percentage, and his 5 shutouts are more than double that of any other NEAC goalie.
On the other side of the ball, it was a combination of new blood and a superstar veteran helping SUNYIT to victory. The latter took the form of Diego Montaleza (New York, N.Y. / MLK), who recorded a goal and an assist for his team-leading 22nd point, while the former was speedy freshman Francesco Tine (Chatham, N.Y. / Lowville).
"Effie," as his teammates call him, made an excellent play to help the Wildcats get their first goal late in the first half. A miscue by the Hawks resulted when a defender put too much air on a kick back to keeper Andres Montoya. Montoya, not being able to use his hands since the kick came from his own player, had to jump and head the ball just to keep it from going in – meanwhile, the opportunistic Effie was there ready to track down the ricochet. With a sure goal in the offing, Montoya had no choice but to drag down Tine, and Montaleza would drill home the resulting penalty kick for a 1-0 SUNYIT lead at the 40:13 mark.
While Faye was deservedly the star of the game, Montoya did his best to keep his team in it. The junior goalie made two magnificent saves early in the second half on back-to-back shots from the Wildcats, acrobatically covering both ends of the box to keep his team in it. Montoya would finish with 6 saves on the night.
The Wildcats held a 17 to 8 shot advantage for the game, and seemed to be chipping away at the New Paltz defense throughout the second half. Finally, in the 77th minute, Tine scored his 3rd goal of the year to give SUNYIT a much more comfortable 2-0 lead. Tine received an excellent pass from (who else?) Montaleza while streaking down the left side of the field. The 5-3 forward then let it rip to the far side of the goal, burying the ball into the net on the right side of the goal.
Plenty of Wildcats in addition to Faye and the two goal-scorers contributed to the win, as the Wildcat defense anchored by Bryan Kilpatrick (Endicott, N.Y. / Union Endicott), Aaron Minnamon (Palmyra, N.Y. / Palmyra-Macedon), Cameron Prime (Norwich, N.Y. / Norwich), and Brett Gruener (Ballston Spa, N.Y. / Ballston Spa) recorded their third-straight shutout, while Nicholas McBride (Schenectady, N.Y. / Mohonasen) was certainly the team's unsung hero on offense, delivering a number of great crosses and seeming to win the right side of the field all night.
SUNYIT will now hit the road for a pair of matches, starting with Wells College on Saturday, October 12th. Game time is scheduled for 12:00 pm.