The College of Staten Island men's soccer team used a thrilling golden-goal overtime goal by Kenneth Zaw, to take a 1-0 win on the road over CUNYAC-rival Lehman College in a match held earlier this evening in the Bronx, New York.  The win, CSI's second in their last three games, puts the team at 2-8-1 overall, and more importantly at 2-3 in conference play, while Lehman dipped to 3-6-1, 2-1-1, respectively.

In what was an exciting game at both ends for the entire 94 minutes of play, CSI did own the advantages on the stat sheet, owning a 31-16 shot advantage throughout the game.  Still, it was the Lightning earning the better opportunities in the game's first half, forcing CSI keeper Ahmed El-Ghareib to make six saves in the opening stanza, the last coming on a sprawling save on a Gilherme Silva header in the box heading toward the upper corner of goal in the waning moments.  Meanwhile, LC keeper Marcos Coto-Barnes was equally up to task turning away four shots on goal, two of them off the boot of CSI freshman Dong Luu on a pair of off-angle shots within a 10 minute span.

With the score deadlocked at 0-0 at the half, both teams began the second half looking for the go-ahead tally.  Lehman seemed destined to find the twine and earned a series of excellent chances in the box early on.  Assami Valian had a great chance at point-blank range early, only for a ball to be swept away by CSI defender Alfred Yeboah, preserving the shutout.  Later, two open blasts by LC leading scorer Geovanny Arredondo sailed harmlessly wide, as Lehman only three of 9 second half shots on goal.

The Dolphins suffered similar fate as only two of their 15 second half shots were actually on goal.  A pair of other would-be goals were swept away at the goal line by Lehman defenders, and later a 20-yard blast by CSI striker Lirim Begai thundered off the crossbar, narrowly missing the go-ahead opportunity.   Still, despite dictating play for most of the second half, CSI went full-time in a 0-0 tie.

The game then moved to sudden-death overtime, and from here, CSI once again dictated play, putting through the only four shots of the overtime period.  Four minutes in, after back-to-back Luu shots went wide and another shot by Ahmed Barakat just missed to the right, CSI got the break it needed.  As Lehman made a run up the field a long lead pass went too long and into the arms of CSI's El-Ghareib.  He then booted the ball up the field and found an open Kenneth Zaw right up the middle, and the junior used the open space he had to unload a rocket from about 30-yards away.  The ball was placed perfectly in the lower right hand corner of the goal, as Coto-Batres sprawled to make the save but had no chance, giving CSI the overtime tally and game-winner.  Zaw was mobbed by his teammates as CSI rejoiced in the well-deserved win.

El-Ghareib made 9 saves for the win while Coto-Batres made 6 saves in the losing effort.  Lehman scored a 9-5 edge in corner kicks attempted but did commit 16 fouls to the Dolphins' 11.  With the win, CSI climbed from ninth place into a fifth place tie in the standings with John Jay College, who have a game in hand over the Dolphins.

CSI will look to use the momentum to its advantage, as they will get ready to take on NYC College of Technology (1-1-1) in their next contest on Saturday at 2pm, in a game that will be played at Floyd Bennett Field.