By Ralph Chery, Contributor | 

The Beavers jumped to the summit of the CUNYAC standings after defeating Baruch College, 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Randall’s Island.

Sophomore midfielder, Kevin Muniz, set up both goals for CCNY. He dished the ball to Aaron Schoenfelder off a corner kick in the 58th minute, and to Lanfia Diaby from open play in the 67th minute.

The Bearcats initiated a comeback with a header by Michael Kaniatyn in the 69th minute. They nearly tied in the dying seconds of the game, as Shaiem Morad’s free kick struck the crossbar. But City’s defense held up long enough to get their second conference win of the season.

“This is what we expect,” senior goalkeeper Maxwell Berkow said about Saturday’s victory. “We expect to show up, score goals and win.”

“I mean, we didn’t keep a clean sheet today, which was what we wanted because we got stuff to build on and have a lot of injury we’re dealing with, but overall three points is three points, we can’t complain.”

CCNY is now unbeaten in nine consecutive CUNY games, a streak they started on October 17, 2015. Their defense continues as the main reason behind their success, conceding only three goals in their first three conference games.

“The defense has been very solid,” Diaby said. “Obviously we’re missing [central defender] Syed [Haider] and that’s a big miss, but the guys stepped up so right now it’s looking alright. It’s looking pretty good.”

After a scoreless first half, CCNY opened the scoring with what proved to be their best scoring weapon so far this season: corner kicks. The Beavers netted via corner kicks in each of their three conference games.

This time, it was Schoenfelder who got in the end of Muniz’s corner kick, heading the ball to the left corner of the net in the 58th minute.

City’s second goal came off a brilliant team play. Muniz released Diaby inside the 18 after exchanging an exquisite one-two with Kenan Redzematovic. Diaby dribbled through open space inside the box before firing a low shot in the net in the 67th minute.

“It feels nice, it’s a great ball, great combination play by the guys, great ball by Kevin [Muniz],” Diaby said about his first goal of the season.

Baruch cut into their deficit two minutes later, when Kanyatin headed John Favara’s long throw beyond Berkow’s reach.  

The Bearcats pushed for an equalizer for the remainder of the game, but the closest they came was when Morad rattled the woodwork with a well struck free kick with less than one minute left on the clock.

CCNY will look to increase their unbeaten run to double digits as they host York College September 28th at Randall’s Island. The Cardinals are still looking for their first win of the season. The last time the two teams met, City had an easy outing against York, winning the game 5-1. The Beavers will look to emulate that win in the game this upcoming Wednesday.

*Cover photo by Curtis Ashley / CCNY Beaver Beat