HERKIMER: For the second time in school history, the Genesee Community College men's soccer team has advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Final Four after the fifth seeded Cougars defeated No. 4 seed Nassau CC 2-1 in the opening round of the national tournament on Thursday at Herkimer College.
GCC, making its third national tournament appearance in the program's history, improved to 3-2 in national tournament games with the win.
With few scoring chances for either team in the opening half, William Stone nearly put Genesee in front during the first minute of the game after he split two Nassau defenders, but his shot from five yards out went just wide.
John Reed then had a chance midway through the first 45 minutes after Stone sent a cross into the box that Reed got a head on, but the Nassau keeper came up with the save to keep the Cougars off the board.
After a scoreless first half and start of the second, Genesee finally broke through in the 68th minute when Charlie Livesey buried a cross from Rafael Godoi that gave GCC the lead for good. It was Livesey's fifth goal of the season.
Just three minutes later, Livesey delivered a clean cross on a corner kick that Glenn Holmes headed into the back of the Nassau net to extend the Cougars lead to 2-0 in the 71st.
The Lions cut the GCC lead in half with a goal in the 77th minute, just the 11th goal allowed by the Genesee defense this season.
The Cougars packed in the defense and held on for the final 13 minutes of the game, and move on to play Richland CC (TX) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
Watch tomorrow night's game online at www.njcaatv.com
