Men’s Soccer Remains Unbeaten

John Mastrella, left, scored his second goal in three games as Keuka's men's soccer team improved to 3-0 with a 2-1 win over Penn State-Berks.

BOXSCORE

Junior John Mastrella (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) scored his second goal in three games and freshman David Caramella (Oswego, NY/Oswego) added the first goal of his Keuka career as the Storm continued its winning ways with a 2-1 road win over Penn State-Berks Saturday afternoon in the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) opener for both schools.

Mastrella, the reigning NEAC Offensive Player of the Week, staked Keuka (3-0, 1-0 NEAC) to a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute. Freshman John Bourgeois (Rochester, NY/Irondequoit) played a nifty ball into Mastrella, who made his way towards the front of the net on a nice secondary run. Mastrella got the ball on a breakaway and struck a well-placed shot from eight yards out towards the near post for the early lead.

Caramella extended the lead to 2-0 off a rebound goal in the 41st minute. Junior Nate Smith (Hilton, NY/Hilton) won a loose ball, got towards the endline and fired a shot on goal that was deflected by Penn State-Berks (0-4, 0-1) goalie Jonathan Jablonka made the save. The ball bounced towards Caramella, who scored towards the back post from eight yards out for that all important second goal.

“David’s goal was huge for us, it was definitely a tough finish since he was probably 20 yards wide of goal and eight yards out. He had to get that shot through some traffic, and he gave us a big lift with that goal,” said Matt Tantalo, Keuka’s seventh-year head coach.

“Afterwards Penn State-Berks came back at us hard, and David’s goal ended up being the game-winner. We responded well after they started putting more pressure on us and to get that first NEAC win is a very positive way to start conference play. Every result is important, and we’re definitely a young group but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Junior Derek Condon (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas), the reigning NEAC Defensive Player of the Week, made a career-high nine saves to preserve the win. Keuka persevered despite losing three of its back four defenseman in the second half due to assorted injuries. Tantalo said he was impressed with the resolve the team showed, especially being down key defenseman against a dangerous Berks squad.

Keuka returns to action at noon Sunday afternoon with a conference game against Penn-State Abington.