The New York University men's soccer team won its opening-round game of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship Tournament, defeating Hood College 2-1 on Saturday, November 16, in Allentown, PA.

The Violets (8-7-2) scored in each half, then held off a late Blazers' (10-9-2) rally to advance in the tournament.

Louis Meeks (Ann Arbor, MI/Greenhills School), recently named University Athletic Association (UAA) Honorable Mention, tallied the first goal at 38:51 on an assist from Keegan Ledger (Santa Rosa, CA/Montgomery). 

"We came out with the right attitude and created several good chances on goal that were magnificent saves by their goalkeeper," said Head Coach Kim Wyant. "But, we stayed focused and finally got that goal." 

Evan Lewis (La Jolla, CA/La Jolla ) gave the Violets some breathing room when he doubled the team's lead. He gathered the ball from Maxi Rodriguez (Chula Vista, CA/St. Augustine) and scored at 80:16.

That goal proved to be crucial as Hood's Chase Ross cut his team's deficit in half at 85:14.

However, the Blazers were held off the scoreboard for the final five minutes as the Violets held on to the victory.    

NYU finished with an edge in shots (13-7) and shots on goal (9-5).

Nick Vafiadis (Englewood, NJ/Bergen Catholic) made four saves in recording the win for NYU. Hood's Isaac Coeto Jr. made seven saves.

"Every player made important contributions to the victory," Wyant added. "They got us to another game tomorrow against a very good Muhlenberg team." 

The Violets now move on for a quarterfinal matchup against host Muhlenberg College. That game is set for 12:00pm tomorrow."