Mighty Oaks Take Down ACPHS at Home

The Mighty Oaks men's soccer team opened their season with a home match against historical opponent, Albany College of Pharmacy.  Between the 5 year hiatus for this match up and it being the first game of the 2025 season, both teams were going in with minimal context on what the other would be bringing to the table.  This meant the Oak's only job was to focus on their style of play and be ready to assess ACP's tactics quickly. Senior captain forward, Yasha Tamarchenko, gave ESF the leg up early on with a goal at the 6 minute mark.  Play settled in for the rest of the half with ESF dominating possession with multiple scoring attempts ricocheting off the post. A notable contributor was senior captain Robbie Bettencourt fighting to control and maintain that possession effort.   

 

After that high pace, high effort first half the Oaks were able to muster a solid start to the second half but had to fight against the natural reaction to have the game go flat.  In steps junior captain midfielder, Kyle Hebler, who rallied the team by finishing off a corner kick service with a header in the 64^th minute. This triggered a rally with subsequent goals by senior midfielder, Dan Kniffen and junior forward, Riley Fowler within the next 4 minutes. Hebler comments on the mindset that re-energized the team: "I felt like it was important to keep high energy and our foot on the gas based on our commanding first half. It felt like a goal was coming and when the ball was served, I knew I had a chance to provide that for the team. I'm glad that I was able to contribute to a powerful win in our season opener especially at home." The Oaks defense would hold strong maintaining the shutout until the final whistle. From start to finish, this was a team effort win with every rostered player seeing minutes on the field.  The men's team is now 1-0 on the season as they look to their inaugural invitation to the SUNY Potsdam tournament the first weekend in September.