Brantmeyer's Hat Trick Sends Rams to ECAC Finals
Brantmeyer's Hat Trick Sends Rams to ECAC Championship
Game
Farmingdale State - 3, Rutgers-Newark - 2
Newark, N.J. – Three long-range goals by
Farmingdale State freshman midfielder Joe Brantmeyer in the second
half shocked top-seeded Rutgers-Newark in the semifinal round of
the ECAC Metro D-III Men’s Soccer Championship semifinals on
Saturday night.
The Rams (10-8-1) advance to Sunday night’s 7 o’clock
title match against second-seeded Drew (10-5-5), which battled past
Richard Stockton (12-9-1) in overtime, 3-2, in the day’s
opening contest. The Scarlet Raiders (13-6-4) saw the winningest
season in Rutgers-Newark history come to an abrupt end.
The Raiders seemed in complete control of the match at halftime
behind two goals from junior forward Innocent Buule and a hefty
12-3 edge in shots. But, Farmingdale State battled Rutgers-Newark
evenly in the second half as each squad took 10 shots.
The difference was Brantmeyer. He hammered a 45-yarder from near
the right sideline into the opposite side of the goal over freshman
goalkeeper Domenico Martirano in the 56th minute to keep the Rams
in the fray.
He curled a free kick from just outside the 18 around the blocking
wall and just inside the right post in the 74th minute to tie the
contest before he drilled the game-winner through the save attempt
by Martirano from 45 yards out on the left side on another free
kick with exactly 15 minutes left in the match. The match was
played in a steady drizzle.
Buule notched his eighth and ninth goals of the season six minutes
apart in the opening period. He ran onto a through pass from
sophomore midfielder Ronald Quiroz and fired a shot into the left
side of the net in the 33rd minute. He collected a loose ball on
the left side, broke down Ram goalkeeper Patrick Gubbins with a
nifty move near the 18, and punched in his second tally in the 69th
minute.
But, Gubbins made three of his five saves in the second period to
help Farmingdale State stay alive while Martirano came up with four
of his five stops in the final 45 minutes.
Martirano made his first start in goal replacing junior Matt
Zielyk who suffered a broken toe in the Raiders’ NJAC
semifinal loss to Montclair State.
In the opener, Ranger senior midfielder Anthony Pisani fired a
shot into the right side of the net on a cross from the center by
junior midfielder Matthew Greenburg in the ninth minute of overtime
to lift Drew over Stockton.
After a scoreless opening period, the Ospreys got goals by junior
Rafael Duarte sandwiched around a pair of tallies by Drew senior
forward Greg Zizik to force the extra period. Greenburg posted his
first assist on Zizik’s first score before senior forward
Jonah Silk send a cross that Zizik headed into the middle of the
net less than three minutes after his initial tally in the 72nd
minute.
Duarte headed in a corner kick from the left side from junior
midfielder Sean Nelson in the 86th minute to level the score at
2-2.
Drew senior goalkeeper David Brigandi made seven saves while
Stockton sophomore Lou Herring stopped two tries after halftime.
- Story from John Stallings, Rutgers-Newark SID -
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