CUNYAC STORY
The men's soccer team dropped its season-opening contest on Friday afternoon, falling 3-1 to the SUNY Old Westbury Panthers at Panther Park on Long Island.
Although Baruch was designated the home team, the match was played on Old Westbury's campus, as it was a late-summer addition.
All four goals in the non-conference match on a bright Friday afternoon to start the Labor Day weekend came from set pieces.
Old Westbury struck through Henrik Ropstad, who scored a brace (two goals), while teammate Ashel Santos played provider with two assists on Ropstad's opener and the Panthers' third goal.
The Bearcats outshot the Panthers 15-14 and scored in the 73rd minute. Junior captain Mitchel Frenkel delivered a precise long cross that found rookie Rayan Vukovic, who redirected the ball into the net to bring the Bearcats at the time to within striking distance at 3-1.
Rookie goalkeeper Dzmitry Piatrashka notched three saves in his intercollegiate debut.
Junior Ailey Dawson took a team-high five shots, and rookie Nikita Gulyaev had a goal called offside in a solid effort from a long cross.
The Bearcats will look to bounce back next weekend when they travel upstate near the Canadian border to compete at the SUNY Potsdam Invitational.
They will play Nazareth College of Rochester on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and host SUNY Potsdam on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
