October 22, 2022
Valhalla, NY - Westchester Men's Soccer advanced to the Region 15 Semifinals with a thrilling defeat over BMCC on Saturday, prevailing after two sudden death overtimes and 7 penalty kick rounds.  The final score was 2-2 (6-5) in PK's.  

The Vikings jumped out to an early lead, when in just the 3rd minute, Eduardo Vasquez (White Plains, NY/White Plains HS) sent a pass across the box to Michael Echeverria (Mamaroneck, NY/Mamaroneck HS) who converted the goal to make it 1-0.  But just 25 minutes into the match Johan Escalante (Yonkers, NY/Riverside HS) was called for a red card on a slide tackle that was deemed to be a dangerous play.  The penalty meant that the Vikings would have to play a man down the rest of the match.  Just two minutes later, Mohamed Nasr of BMCC knocked in the game tying goal on a point blank shot deep in the Westchester 18 yard box. 

Despite the man advantage for the Panthers, the game was largely played equally in both zones for the remainder of the first half and the better part of the 2nd.   At the 63rd minute mark, Exon Umanzor (Ossining, NY/Ossining HS) received a cross from Romaine Swaby (Mount Vernon, NY/Mount Vernon HS) which was just past the drawn out Panther Keeper.  Umazor was able to convert on the open goal to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead.  That lead would be short lived though as with just over 17 minutes left in regulation, it was Nasr again scoring a goal off of a rebounded save made by Westchester Goalkeeper Nicolas Nunez (Yonkers, NY/Saunders HS)  THe ball bounced just far enough away for Nasr to convert and the game was once again tied at 2 goals apiece.  

Regulation ended without any real scoring threat from there, and the teams entered two 10-minute golden goal overtime periods.  Neither team was able to gain the upper hand and neither keeper was forced to make any saves during overtime.  The Vikings had played 85 minutes, the equivalent of almost a whole regulation match, with BMCC having a man advantage which earned them a chance to win it in PK's.  

The 5-shot set began with BMCC taking the first shot, and converting. As did Westchester's Freddy De Paz (Yonkers, NY/Roosevelt HS).  In fact, both teams converted their first four shots, as the Vikings got goals from Vasquez, Swaby and Andrew Martinez (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle HS).  That is when Nunez stepped up to put the Vikings in a position to win.  He sprawled to deflect a hard shot in front of the goal, setting up a winning shot by Jason Otiniano (Valhalla, NY/Valhalla HS).  His shot sailed just left and forcing sudden death rounds of kicks until a team gains the winning goal.  The Panthers and Vikings, thanks to a goal by Alberto Morales (White Plains, NY/White Plains HS), both converted in the 6th round.  But in the 7th and final round, it was Nunez again who put the Vikings in a position to advance by saving a hard shot point blank in the middle of the goal.  It was then Alejandro Vega's (White Plains, NY/White Plains HS) turn to contribute as he knocked a hard shot that the BMCC keeper was able to get a hand on as he fell to his right, but the ball spun off and into the goal, sealing the win for the Vikings.

Westchester now moves on to the semifinals where they will take on the #1 Ranked Lions of Nassau Community College on Wednesday, October 26th at 4pm.  The game will be held at Mitchell Field in Garden City.