Brookville, N.Y. - The No. 2 and top-seeded LIU Post men's soccer team used a five-goal outburst in the first half Thursday to roll to an 8-1 win against fourth-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College in an East Coast Conference Championship semifinal at Pioneer Soccer Park.
The win advances the Pioneers (16-0-1) to their sixth-consecutive ECC Tournament final. They will face the victor of the other semifinal between second-seeded Molloy College and third-seeded New York Institute of Technology in the title game on Saturday (Nov. 5).
The green and gold broke out for four goals in the first 18:08 of the contest. Senior forward Jason Lampkin (Hawardon, Wales, United Kingdom) got the scoring started in the fourth minute, when he fired a shot over the reach of Spartans' (8-5-5) sophomore keeper Jack Nicholson (Totton Southampton, England).
Just over 10 minutes later, freshman forward Michael Sutton (Bergen, Norway) finished a through ball from Charlie Ledula (London, England) into the right corner of the net, making it a 2-0 game.
From there, Ledula took over offensively, netting a pair of tallies only 1:10 apart to widen the gap to 4-0. Both goals came off long runs from sophomore back/midfielder Nico Kjaer Andersen (Odense, Denmark), who sent a cross to the center of the 18-yard box for Ledula.
The Pioneers eventually took a commanding 5-0 advantage into the break, as freshman forward Gianluca Santacruz (Southampton, N.Y.) netted his third goal of the season with 9:03 left in the opening half.
In the latter session, Santacruz tacked on another goal just 1:48 into the half, after converting on a breakaway. Senior forward Sean Collins (Sowerby Bridge, England) and senior midfielder Alex Ostby (Oslo, Norway) contributed tallies in the period, as well.
LIU Post outshot St. Thomas Aquinas by a 22-9 count in the match. The Pioneers also earned six corner kicks to the Spartans' four.
Between the pipes, senior goalkeepers Jesper Malmstrom (Linkopping, Sweden) and Brian McPartland (Hicksville, N.Y.) combined to make two saves for LIU Post. Nicholson and freshman netminder Cameron Turner (Rancho Santa Margarita, California) teamed up for five stops for STAC.
Provided by the LIU Post Sports Information Department.
