Academy Top Boston Tea Men, 2-1

The Long Island Academy evened their National Premier Soccer League record at 1-1-0 with a 2-1 defeat of the Boston Tea Men on May 20 at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale.

Emmanuel Raye opened the scoring in the 4th minute for Boston on a 10-yard header off an assist from a corner kick by Chris Nugent.

Long Island responded when Zach Kupfer crossed the ball to Josh Allen, who chest-trapped the ball and put it past Boston keeper Vinny Papageorgiou with a 6-yard shot in the 21st minute.

Long Island Academy keeper Hernando Santamaria saved a Shane O’Neill breakaway in the 37th minute to leave the score deadlocked heading into the locker rooms at halftime.

Donald Anding came on as a substitute for the Academy at halftime. On his first touch of the game, he scored on a breakaway off an assist from Jose Batista in the 48th minute.

Papageorgiou then saved a 30-yard rocket from Pat McCann in the 61st minute. In the 64th minute, Long Island’s Allen made the defensive play of the game when he bicycle kicked the ball off a Boston cross, saving an almost certain goal as a Tea Men forward was running onto the cross at the far post.

The exciting end-to-end play continued in the 71st minute when the shot of Boston’s O’Neill on a breakaway went just past the Long Island goal post.

The Academy’s home stand concludes next Wednesday, May 26, 7 pm at Adelphi vs. the New York Red Bulls. The Academy’s sister team, the 1-0-0 Long Island Fury, start a road stand with a Saturday night game at South Jersey United, followed by a Monday night encounter at the Philadelphia Independence.