The SUNY New Paltz men’s soccer team fell to King’s College 5-4, as the Monarch’s scored the game winning goal with just five seconds left on the clock.
Billy Elliot notched the game winning goal in the final moments off a corner kick. Elliot sent a header into the right corner to seal clinch the game. The Hawks, rallied from a 3-0 deficit at the half to tie the score at 4-4 with just under a minute left in regulation.
King’s marked their first goal in the 28th minute on a penalty shot. The Monarchs scored twice with less than five minutes in the first half for the 3-0 lead. The second goal was another penalty shot and the third was flicked in on a corner service.
The second half proved to be the most dramatic 45 minutes of soccer. SUNY New-Paltz came out firing, scoring their first goal of the game just two minutes in to the new half. First year Tommy Garafalo (Richmond Hill/St. Francis Prep) finished a rebound taken by Lucas Natel (Mineloa) for his first goal of the season. Nearly thirty minutes later, the Hawks made it more interesting by scoring again to make the score 3-2. Junior Anton Shipman (Howard Beach/Molloy) netted a rebound off a scramble in front of the net.
King’s struck back three minutes later with a header that slipped through the hands of Hawks goaltender Patrick Carlucci (Goshen), bringing the score to 4-2.
New-Paltz struck twice in the waning minutes of the game. James Altadonna (Massapequa Park/Massapequa) scored from Natel on a ball that just slipped past Monarch net minder Tim Kelly with 86:40 left. The equalizer was scored at 89:01by Joe Emberger (Poughkeepsie/Roy C. Ketchum), when he converted on a great pass from Garafolo.
Carlucci took the loss in net, making nine saves. New Paltz falls to 3-2-2 on the season and returns to action on Saturday when they host Cortland in a SUNYAC contest at 1pm.
