Top seed and regular-season champion Five Towns College defeated No. 3 seed Word of Life Bible Institute/Davis College, 4-1, to secure the 2021 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championship on a rainy weekend at the Huskies Soccer Complex.
With the victory, Five Towns (13-1, 5-0 HVIAC) completed an unblemished conference season and claimed their first conference title in any sport. Currently ranked No. 1 in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) coaches’ poll, the Sound also earns the conference’s automatic bid to the USCAA National Championship to be held from November 11-15 in Virginia Beach, Va.
Five Towns cruised to the final by way of a 9-1 victory over No. 4 seed King’s College (4-8, 2-3) in the first semifinal behind a hat trick from freshman Angel Chavez.
Tournament host Word of Life/Davis (4-9-2, 2-2-1) advanced to the title game in a thrilling double-overtime second semifinal against No. 2 seed SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (7-3, 4-1). After both teams remained deadlocked at 1-all through two extra sessions, Word of Life goalie Matheo Faccin stonewalled the first three Oaks and the Huskies shooters converted on kicks two through four to win the shootout, 3-0.
In Sunday’s title game, Five Towns struck first in the 21st minute as Joel Funez put in a shot from close range off a feed from James Habert and the Sound led at intermission.
Six minutes into the second stanza, the Huskies found the equalizer as Kevin Porras scored on a counter-attack from Jacob Lingerman. With the teams level for 26 minutes, Chavez delivered the eventual game-winner in the 77th minute off a feed from Funez. The Sound tacked on two more insurance goals with Funez and Chavez scoring in the final 10 minutes to seal the title.
With 15 goals entering the Championship and five over the weekend, Chavez was named the 2021 Player of the Year and the Tournament MVP.
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