By Faraz T. Toor
Published: October 21, 2014
As a 5-foot-3 defender, Manuel Baltazar isn’t always the target man for goals.
One of his last regular season games ever was a good time to break conventions, then.
The senior Baltazar scored the lone goal in the Brooklyn College Men’s Soccer team’s 1-0 win over Lehman College on Saturday at Brooklyn College Field.
The Bulldogs (5-8-1) piled on pressure in the first half, as they fired 11 shots to the Lightning’s (4-10) three, four of which that went on target.
Almost two-and-a-half minutes into the second half, however, Baltazar got the best shot of the day.
BC’s Sirojiddin Shamsiev crossed the ball toward the penalty area and found Baltazar’s head. At close range, Lehman goalkeeper Jesus Marin couldn’t stop the header, and BC got their first goal since the first half of their win two weeks ago against SUNY Old Westbury.
The goal would be all the Bulldogs needed to notch their fifth victory of the season, as the Lightning hardly got any pressure on BC goalie Ilya Keygen; Lehman managed just two shots on goal after they fell behind.
Those two shots came late, as the Lightning had one last gasp. In the 78th minute, Ronniel Mendez blasted a shot at Keygen, which the goalie turned aside.
Four minutes later, Lehman wasted what would be their last best chance of the match, as Hugh Campbell failed to hit the back of Brooklyn’s net.
After Jonathan Moallem’s shot went wide in the 83rd minute, the BC defense had almost complete control and held the visitors to zero shots in the last seven minutes of the game.
The Bulldog players had Marin on his toes in the first half.
Less than five minutes after kickoff, the Lightning goalkeeper had to make a save on an Andres Pertuz shot.
In the 29th minute, Marin denied Fernand Grisales, but BC challenged him again four minutes later, as Omer Capoglu laced a shot that Marin stopped.
Baltazar’s goal was the first of his career, and in his second season with the team.
Keygen’s clean sheet was his third of the season, and his second-straight. Since Montclair State scored eight goals on the sophomore almost a month ago, Keygen has allowed only four total goals over his last four matches.
Marin made seven saves in the match, more than twice as many as Keygen’s three.
Shamsiev’s cross was the midfielder’s third assist of the season, and his first since a late-September win against John Jay College.
Brooklyn College overall out shot Lehman College 17-11.
Despite a 1-5-1 record on the road, the Bulldogs are 4-2 at Brooklyn College Field. Their last two regular season games are at home.
