DELHI, N.Y. (October 25, 2017) – With the tip of a hat by Brody Rettle, coupled with a score by Darion Arango, the SUNY Delhi men's soccer squad cruised to a 4-1 home win over Berkeley NY on Wednesday in their regular season finale. The Broncos finished the year at 8-7, and are set to compete at the NIAC Championship on Saturday, November 4, hosted by Fisher College. In addition, Delhi now awaits to hear about a possible bid for the USCAA National Championship, which will take place Saturday, November 11 in Virginia Beach, Va. The Broncos were ranked 16th in the latest USCAA Coaches Poll.
Head coach Brian Mitko's team is back above .500 for the first time since September 24, when the Broncos stood at 4-3. After three straight losses pitted Delhi at 4-6, the Broncos pulled together to win four of their last five contests. This included wins over Berkeley NJ, a 2-1 overtime win, Vermont Tech, an 8-2 rout, and Fisher, a 2-1 victory.
Before Wednesday's match with the Knights, SUNY Delhi honored graduating players Austin Hutchins, Griffin Metzko, Joe O'Halloran and Lac Van for their commitment and service as student-athletes.
There were a few close calls to begin the contest, but nevertheless the match remained scoreless through the first 30 minutes. Rettle put Delhi on the board with his first score of the day, netting a rebound off the post from Alhasane Sako to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute. In the waning minutes of the half, Delhi put up a pair of scores in the final two minutes to take a 3-0 lead into halftime. Arango tallied a goal off an assist from Joseph Vazquez in minute 44, followed by Rettle's second score off a breakaway with 58 seconds remaining.
Ahead comfortably, Delhi continued to press on in the second half, keeping the Knights off the board to stave off any comeback hopes. Rettle added another measure of distance in the 60th minute, when his free kick found its way into the net to give the Broncos a 4-0 lead.
Goalie Marcos Andrino registered three saves on the day, allowing just one goal, a 71st-minute strike from Omario Rosen, before giving way to Corey O'Toole, who finished with five saves in just under 20 minutes of action. The Delhi defense also came through with heroics, tallying a team save in the 66th minute that would have otherwise been a goal by the Knights' Hallgrim Tryli to keep Berkeley NY scoreless.
Rettle's three-goal performance moved him up to second on Delhi's season scoring list with 13 points six goals and one assist. Sako's one assist Wednesday preserved his top spot on the Delhi scoring leaderboard with 14 points on six goals and two assists.
Berkeley NY finished ahead of Delhi in shots, 18-14, and 10-8 in shots on goal. Both sides had a pair of corner kicks, while the Knights were called on 14 fouls to the Broncos' 13. Yellow cards were given out to Broncos Matthew Cassidy and Jostin Sarmiento.
