Press Releases

October 23, 2001
Southampton College Men's Soccer on the Verge of a Three-Peat

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

A double-overtime 1-1 stalemate was all the Southampton College men's soccer team needed on Saturday away against Dowling (9-0-3, 4-0-2 league), the nation's No. 4 team in NCAA Division II. Now the Colonials (8-3-2, 5-0-1), with the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference's best record, are in the driver's seat to win their third-straight NYCAC crown.

The Colonials have not lost in NYCAC play in three years, going 20-0-2 in that stretch, but have two of the league's toughest teams, CW Post (8-6, 4-1) and Bridgeport, left on this year's schedule. Both are away games, October 27 and November 3, respectively.

Senior Peter Nilsson scored his 20th goal of the season on a penalty kick to knot the game at 1-1. A professional prospect, Nilsson is two goals shy of the 1999 school record set by Johan Kron. The Colonials are No. 5 in the Northeast region in NCAA Division II in rankings released today by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, the sport's governing body. Dowling is No. 1. On Wednesday, October 27, Nilsson scored four goals in just 40 minutes as Southampton upended Molloy 7-2. "Peter Nilsson is a true leader out there, and he's the type of forward who can score even with just a quarter of a chance," said first-year coach Patrick Horne, who won conference titles at SUNY-Old Westbury the past two seasons. Andreas Nilsson added two goals. Co-captain Andreas Lindberg, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, scored once.

The women also played an important game on Saturday. Southampton College's Lady Colonials soccer team lost a 3-2 Homecoming heartbreaker to Adelphi, the Northeast region's No. 2 team in polls released today by the NSCAA. Southampton (8-4, 6-2) is ranked No. 8 in the region.

The Lady Colonials had first-place Adelphi on the ropes, leading 2-1 deep into the second half, but the Lady Panthers stormed back to score two goals with 13:58 and 4:33 left in the game to get the 3-2 win. For the Colonials, Begga Laxdal (13 goals) scored on a breakaway in the first half and Annelie Andersson added an early second-half goal.