By Ralph Chery, Contributor | 

CCNY’s Men’s soccer snapped a three-game losing streak, defeating Medgar Evers College 2-1, on Saturday afternoon at Kingsborough Community College’s soccer field.

Kenan Redzematovic finished a brilliant passing display in the 42nd minute to put the Beavers on top. But City’s lead only lasted five minutes as the Cougars equalized with a screamer by Garrek Estrada from way outside the 18-yard box two minutes after the interval.

Both sides pushed for a go-ahead, making several trips in each other’s penalty area, but it was CCNY who took home the winner as Stephanos Hondrakis netted the decisive goal in the 80th minute.

Prior to this game, City spent 238 minutes without scoring and conceded 12 goals during their three-game losing streak.

“It was a great win, you know, it was well fought,” Redzematovic said after the game. “They were fighting really well. It was great to go up early, we lost a little bit of concentration, allowing them to equalize, but then we continued our play and dominated and finally got the second one to go in through Stephanos.”

Starting keeper, Maxwell Berkow, was out due to a knee injury. Sophomore Marcus De Pompeis replaced Berkow between the posts, racking five saves.

“They gave me a lot of support, a lot of advice in the back,” De Pompeis said after his first full 90 minutes this season. “It makes it easier when you have your team working with you. It’s not that hard of a job when you have your defensive and offensive line working with you to make your game better.”

MEC outshot the Beavers 7-5 in the first half, however, it was the visitors who scored the opener three minutes before halftime.

After a neat one-two with Christopher Lavelle, Lanfia Diaby hit a low-cross across the box. Redzematovic was once again at the right place at the right time to strike Diaby’s cross in the net, tallying his seventh goal of the season.  

“It was all credit to Diaby,” CCNY’s top scorer said about his goal. “He made all the work on the side, he megged the guy–fantastic move. I just made some space for myself and he picked me out, it was just a matter of me finishing it.”

The Cougars were red hot after the interval, and consequently netted an equalizer just two minutes inside the second half.

Estrada had time and place deep in midfield and decided to have a go. Keeper De Pompeis could only watch as Estrada’s shot slammed the top of the net.

“We just played down to their level,” Hondrakis commented about  a challenging MEC. “They kept the ball in the air, but I think also because we were tired. We had three games this week, we’ve been on the road a lot, so we just needed a little bit of rest to get back into it.”

Medgar took three shots in less than five minutes after their goal but City managed to prevent them from scoring and reestablished their lead late in the second half.

Hondrakis collected a pinpoint pass from Lavelle before slotting a low-shot to the right corner of the net away from opposing keeper Kevin Ngwolo.

After playing four games in a week, the defending champions won’t be back in action until October 15th, when they host John Jay College at Aviator Sports Complex at 8:30 p.m. Last time the two sides met, the Beavers outplayed John Jay, winning 2-1.