BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn men's soccer team celebrated its seniors and won its eighth consecutive match with a shutout victory over Georgia Southern, 3-0, at LIU Field on Sunday. The eight-match winning streak is currently the longest streak in NCAA Division I men's soccer and is the longest for an LIU team since 1985, when the Blackbirds started the season with 13 straight wins.
The win also marked the 10th of the year for LIU Brooklyn, the first time since 2002 that the feat has been achieved. The Blackbirds are 10-5-2 on the season and at 6-0-0 in Northeast Conference play, have already clinched the regular-season title and the right to host the NEC Tournament on Nov. 13-15.
The first shot of the game took awhile to develop and came in the 22nd minute of play, when the Eagles Alfonso Ochoa took a free kick against a five-man wall. Senior
Jacob Smith was able to block the shot and send it down the field for LIU. In the 28th minute of play, junior
Ryan Herold got the ball to senior
Nahuel Medina inside, who flicked it past the keeper from 8 yards for his fourth goal of the season.
Redshirt junior
Stephen Mensah connected a pass to junior
Dennis Amvrosiatos down the field in the 31st minute and just missed high on his shot from 20 yards. In the 37th minute, Georgia Southern's Adam Abdellaoui took a shot from 20 yards on goal that freshman keeper
Michael Ramsey collected for his first save of the game. The score would remain 1-0 at the half.
Early in the second half, sophomore
Isak Doumbia just missed his shot over the crossbar from 20 yards. In the 58th minute, senior
Raffi Gregorian sent the ball from the right side to redshirt freshman
Romario Guscott inside the box for a header goal that landed just inside the left post. The goal was Guscott's sixth of the season and third in two matches.
In the 79
th minute, redshirt sophomore
Naeem Charles helped put the finishing touches on the match as he sent a ball inside the box to senior
Tyler Draovitch. Draovitch redirected the pass into the back of the net for his first goal of the season, giving the Blackbirds a 3-0 lead. From there, LIU fended off Georgia Southern's attack to earn its eighth shutout of the year and fifth in the last six matches.
UP NEXTLIU is set to host the "Battle of Brooklyn" next Sunday, Nov. 8, when the Blackbirds face off against the Terriers of St. Francis Brooklyn at 1:00 p.m.