SYRACUSE — The Clinton Community College men’s soccer team started quickly and scored four goals in the first half Sunday — two by Jamie Davison — and went on to record a 4-2 victory over Onondaga Community College in the season opener for the Cougars.
Davison (4:04 and 24:09), Jordan Knight (17:27) and Matt Leta (25:31) all tallied in the first 25 minutes of the contest. Leta, Kaleb Snide and Kevin Murnane added assists.
“We played pretty well,” Clinton coach Zac Eppler said. “I can’t really complain. Our team came out strong — we pressured the ball early and put a lot of pressure on their defense to see what they could do. We put them in trouble early.
“On the first goal, Matt played a ball down the right side to Jamie, we caught their goalie out of position and Jamie had a beautiful shot. That’s pretty much how the first half went — we pressured them the whole time.
“The third goal by Jamie, he shot off a volley and it went upper 90. He was probably about 20 yards out.”
David Firenze put the Lazers on the board at 31:40 of the first half, and Kevin Kelley scored on a free kick at 33:32 of the second half.
“Defensively, we did pretty well,” Eppler said. “We had a few lapses at times, and we got a little disorganized. But I can’t say enough about how we came out strong. I hope we can finish strong in the future as well.”
Clinton held a 9-6 advantage in shots on goal and Travis Agoney made four saves in the Cougars’ nets.
“(I’d say we gained) quite a bit (of momentum), knowing that we can play on the road and start off the game the way we did with a lot of newcomers as well,” said Eppler. “It gives our guys the confidence.
“We know what we’re doing and know how to do it. We just have to stick together.”
Eppler singled out Keon Jahanbakhsh, Snide, Davison and Leta for playing strong games.
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Clinton C.C. 4, Onondaga C.C. 2
Clinton C.C. 4 0 — 4
Onondaga C.C. 1 1 — 2
First half- 1, CCC, Davison (Leta), 4:04. 2, CCC, Knight (Snide), 17:27. 3, CCC, Davison, 24:09. 4, CCC, Leta (Murnane), 25:31. 5, OCC, Firenze, 31:40.
Second half- 5, OCC, Kelley, 33:32.
Shots: Clinton C.C. 9, Onondaga C.C. 6.
Saves: Agoney, CCC, 4.
