Box Score
Video Clip of 2nd Goal
STATEN ISLAND, NY– York College men’s soccer standout Elysee Vilsaint scored a pair of goals to lead the Cardinals to a 2-0 win over Medgar Evers College Saturday afternoon in the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) men’s soccer semifinals. With the win, the Cardinals advance to their third straight CUNYAC Championship match.
York (11-7) will now play Hunter College next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in a rematch of last year's championship game. Hunter defeated Baruch 1-0 in the second semifinal.
Despite a number of scoring of opportunities for both sides in the first half, the game remained scoreless until the 43rd minute when Vilsaint put a shot off his right foot that tipped off of Medgar Evers goalie John Ajirotutu and into the back of the net for the game’s first goal. York’s Francisco Florez picked up an assist on the goal.
Then in the 53rd minute, York’s Ousmane Toure sent the ball down the left side of the field to Vilsaint, who outran defenders to take possession. From there, Vilsaint sent the ball to the far post, where the ball snuck into the goal for a commanding 2-0 lead.
VIlsaint now has 17 goals on the season, which easily leads the conference. He came into the week ranked eighth in the country in scoring and should move up even higher after this week.
“Elysee is an offensive machine, said head coach Linval Cunningham. “Even if we don’t dominate possession we can win because we have guys like Elysee who can score at any time.”
York goalie Samer Abdel-Fattah locked down the match from there, stopping four shots to earn his eighth shutout of the season.
The Cardinals have now eliminated Medgar Evers College from the playoffs four consecutive seasons, with the last three coming in the semifinals.
York will be looking for its sixth title in school history Saturday, which would be the most of any CUNYYAC school. York won in 1990, 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2007. CCNY also has five titles.