Old Westbury, NY Shawn Hollands goal two minutes and 50 seconds into the game lifted Old Westbury to a 1-0 win over conference foe Mount Saint Mary and snapped a six-game losing streak for the Panthers. The win is the first for Old Westbury in conference action this season and is the first win since the Panthers beat New York City Tech on September 28. Old Westbury is now 5-11 on the season and 1-7 in Skyline action.
In the early minutes of action, the Panthers came out attacking and scored on their first attempt of the match. John Senatore picked up the ball near the 18-yard mark, beat one defender and passed the ball across the center of the goal mouth towards Holland, who had broken free and was in position to score. Holland continued his run and one-touched it into the net for his 10th goal of the season.
The Panthers had a few additional scoring opportunities, but managed only one more shot on goal. Despite playing down one man due to a red card, the Panthers held off Mount St. Mary and kept the ball on the offensive end for most of the match.
Mount St. Marys attack put together two solid scoring chances, the first of which came with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game when Jarrell Fothergills header was stopped on the goal line by Brian Hicks, in goal for the Panthers. With 3:36 to play in the second, Jon Gasiewski broke past the Old Westbury defensive line and had his one-on-one attempt blocked by Hicks. On the same play, Chris Lahar received the deflection from Hicks save and fired another attempt, this time Hicks dove to his left to block the would-be game-tying goal.
Hicks finished with six saves for Old Westbury, while Jack Benanati finished with one for Mount St. Mary.
The Panthers will close out the 2005 regular season at home on Monday when they host Centenary. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 pm at Panther Park.