Four goals give Generals third place in NJCAA tournament

HERKIMER, NY – With four goals in the second half of Sunday's (11/16) NJCAA DIII National Third Place game, the Herkimer Generals men's soccer team broke a 135 minute streak with no goals, defeating Cayuga Community College in the process 4-1.

Herkimer (18-1-1, 7-0) allowed the first goal of the game in the fifth minute when Spartans forward Chris Davison got behind the Generals defense for the momentum changer, putting Herkimer down again for a second consecutive game in the national tournament.

The deficit lasted into the second half until freshman Rodrigo Guerra (Newburgh, NY) scored his third goal of the tournament unassisted in the 53^rd. The freshman bodied a ball to his right foot just inside the 18, drilling it past Cayuga's Tautis Poniskaitis for the equalizer, taking any momentum the Spartans had throughout the contest.

Just over a minute later, sophomore Simon Hernandez (Caracas, Venezuela) collected his first goal of the season on an pass which was just out of reach of Guerra, but right to Hernadez at centerfield, drilling it low and past Cayuga's defense for the 2-1 lead.

It didn't stop there, as captain Connor Shearer (Oneonta, NY) got in the act as well, this time from a corner kick Shane Jenkinson (Dublin, Ireland) served, creeping in from the weak side and heading the ball into the top left of the net for his second goal of the season. It broke a streak of nine games without a goal, also helping Jenkinson to his ninth assist of the season.

Fittingly the final goal of the season was scored by forward Ben Polk (Banbury, UK). The sophomore who went scoreless for only the second time all season on Friday against Suffolk netted his nation leading 33^rd goal of the season, taking a Hernandez pass behind the Spartan defense, scoring from left-to-right.

In goal for the Generals in their final game was Austin Santor (Chazy, NY). The sophomore was rock solid throughout, saving four shots en route to his 16^th win of the season, which is second best in the nation.

Making it to the All-Tournament team for the Generals was Shearer and Polk. They were two of 13 players selected. Each team in the national tournament had at least one player honored.

(Credit writer: Giorgio Varlaro)