Marquis Pickering

GAMEDAY: MEN'S SOCCER CONTINUES PLAYOFF PUSH AGAINST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

10/22/2022 8:00:00 AM

Washington, D.C. - The College of Staten Island Men's Soccer Team continues its late-season playoff push today when they take on the University of the District of Columbia at noon. The Dolphins come in with a 4-9-1 overall record and are still in the hunt for an East Coast Conference playoff spot at 2-2-1 in the conference. The Firebirds are 6-7-1 on the season, but they have been eliminated from playoff contention in the conference and are 1-5 against the ECC. These two teams have met just once before in a 1-0 UDC victory over CSI at Dolphins Soccer Park last season.

The Dolphins last played one week ago and remained firmly in the playoff picture after a 0-0 draw with Mercy. Both teams had several opportunities to break the scoreless tie, but it was Amari Thompson came up huge for CSI with two incredible saves down the stretch of the match. Dennis Coticelli also had a chance to give CSI the lead, but his attempt at a go-ahead goal hit the post. The Firebirds were last in action on Wednesday in non-conference play. In that match, they rebounded from an early one-score deficit with four unanswered goals to defeat Dominican College 4-1.

Thompson has been dominant at home this season, and the reigning East Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week will hope to bring that success onto the road for today's matchup with the Firebirds. The Dolphins were once again held without a goal in last weekend's match with Mercy, and the team is still led in points by Daniel Angulo who has three goals and two assists in just ten games. Brendan Maguire, Steven Adebisi, and Nicholas Kishenko all have multiple goals as well, and the Dolphins will need their attack to come alive down the stretch of the season in order to secure a playoff spot. Last time out for UDC, four different players scored a goal in the victory over Dominican. Among those players was Santiago Gordillo Martinez who enters today' match with five goals. The team's second-leading goal-scorer Axel Gamez also scored his third goal of the season on Wednesday, and four other Firebirds join him and Gordillo Martinez with multiple goals this year. In goal, Simon Birnstad and Javier Abadia Torres have combined to allow 1.50 goals per game this season posing another challenge for a Dolphins attack that has struggled to score goals.

The scenario for the Dolphins is simple entering their last three games of the season. If the Dolphins win their remaining three matches, they will qualify for the East Coast Conference playoffs. Things become a bit more complicated if CSI loses one of their remaining games, excluding their meeting with Queens. A CSI loss against either UDC or Daemen in their next two games would force the Dolphins into a position where they would need plenty of help to make the playoffs.

Gametime - 12:00 PM
Location - Washington, D.C.
All-Time Series - UDC leads 1-0
Last Meeting - 9/29/21: UDC won 1-0

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