Riverdale, NY (October 24, 2004)- Canisius' Chris Robey converted a penalty shot after being fouled in the penalty box by a Manhattan defender to give the Golden Griffins a 2-1 MAAC soccer win over the Jaspers today at Gaelic Park. Canisius held off a furious Manhattan rally as time expired to improve to 3-10-1, 2-3-1 in MAAC play. The Jaspers fall to 3-10-0, 1-4-0 in MAAC play.
Neither team could break into the scoring column in a tightly played first half. Early in the second half, Canisius' starting goalkeeper, Adam Sleyzak was injured and was forced to leave the game, and Manhattan took advantage of his replacement, Matt Houghton, coming in cold, as Tom Maguire sent perfect cross to Javier Escobedo, who finished off the goal in front of the net.
Canisius would rally around Houghton, scoring the equalizer just over four minutes later, as Robey placed the ball to the head of Yusuf Ibrahim on a restart. Ibrahim put the ball to the near post, knotting the score at 1-1 at the 53:52 mark.
With just over 20 minutes left, Robey converted the penalty kick to give Canisius the go-ahead goal, as Manhattan goalkeeper Collin Leaver guessed the wrong direction on his save attempt.
The Jaspers crashed the net late in the match looking to knot the score, and had several chances in front of the net, but were unable to convert.
Sleyzak made four saves before his injury, and Houghton stopped four shots in relief to get the win. Leaver made four saves for Manhattan, who outshot the Griffs 15-8. The teams were even at 2-2 in corner kicks, while combining for 62 fouls (34 for Canisius, 28 for Manhattan) in a physical contest.
The Jaspers will return to action on Friday, October 29, when they travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to battle MAAC foe Marist at 7:00 p.m.