Lehman men are champs after shocking Hunter

When Toma Gojcevic took over as head coach of the Lehman men’s soccer team in the spring of 2014, he arrived on campus with a plan in mind to bring the Lightning program back to prominence.

“I set a certain goal for the team that after three years we would be in the finals and hopefully win it,” Gojcevic said. “So that has come to fruition.”

Thanks to goals by Mamadou Talla and Essosa Aluyi and some superlative work in the nets by goal keeper Irvin Barreto, Gojcevic’s prediction came true as the Lightning upended Hunter College, 2-1, to capture the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) championship. It’s second men’s soccer title in Lehman history with the last one coming in 2011.

“Honestly I’m a little numb right now,” Gojcevic said. “I’m really excited for the team and I’m excited for the school and I’m excited for myself as well because it’s an honor to win the championship at any level.”

It was back in the summer during preseason workouts when Gojcevic thought he might have a special team on his hands, one capable of a championship run.

“We started conditioning practice in July and then in August when we had our official practices, after a week I noticed that I had a really, really strong defensive team,” Gojcevic said. “And I thought we have a chance with a great goal scorer like Essosa and we have a great goalie in Irvin Barreto so I thought we had a chance to really do well. My gut feeling, in the middle of the season, was that we were going to get to the final.”

There were some anxious times for the Lightning in the championship game, however.

Lehman took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half when Talla drilled a shot past Hunter goal keeper Paul Alain Yovoh Tenfoung. The Lightning took that one goal lead into the intermission despite being outshot, 13-5, in the first half by the Hawks.

It didn’t take long for Lehman to find the net again in the second half when Aluyi, who led the team with nine goals this season, forced a Hunter turnover and turned it into a goal and a 2-0 Lehman lead.

“He’s very athletic, quick, strong and has a very high IQ for soccer,” Gojcevic said of Aluyi. “He’s very dangerous one-on-one, he’s very dynamic and he’s a threat every single time he touches the ball. He played his best game [Saturday]. He did a great job.”

So with a two-goal lead the Lightning could just coast from there right? Wrong.

Hunter finally got on the board in the 85th minute when the Hawks’ Jesus Patino Muniz slipped one past Barreto to trim the Lehman lead to 2-1 with over 4:00 to play.

“That was a great goal by him,” Gojcevic said of Muniz’ tally. “The last four minutes were nail-biting.”

It went from nail-biting to positively heart-stopping for Lehman in the final seconds when Hunter scored what appeared to be the game-tying goal with just 10 seconds to play. But officials waved off the goal when it was determined that Barreto was interfered with on the play and the Lightning hung on for the victory.

The win not only earns the Lightning the CUNYAC championship, but it also gives Lehman (10-3-3)  an automatic invitation into the NCAA Tournament for the second time in six years. The Lightning will travel to Glassboro, New Jersey to take on Rowan University in the tournament opener Saturday at 5 p.m. Rowan, out of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, comes into the game toting an impressive 16-2-1 record.

“It’s been a pretty great run honestly,” Gojcevic said.

And it’s not over yet for the Lightning.