New York, N.Y. - The BMCC Panthers regular season came to a close this past week with a record of 5-6-1. The Panthers finished in 8th place, which qualifies them for the Region XV playoffs. The Panthers will take on the #3 Suffolk Sharks Saturday October 26th at 1pm, the game is being played at Suffolk because they are the higher seed. 

The Panthers and Sharks met very early in the season on September 11th. In that matchup the Panthers lost a hard fought game 2-1. The first half of the game was very balenced, with each team having equal possesion of the ball and having opportunities to draw first blood. The Panthers tested the Sharks with five SOG. Irvin Barreto made three saves in the 1st half.

In the 2nd half a bit of careless defending in the 51' gave Suffolk midfielder Andre Brown room in the middle of the field to bury a goal to give the Sharks a 1-0 leade. 13 minutes later Brown struck again, this time connecting on a free kick that beat Baretto in the upper right corner.

The Panthers rallied and continuted to pressue by sending in many crosses that were just missing the heads of Ilir Papraniku and Drition Selimanjin. Itamar Pereria got the Panthers on the board with a great shot from inside the 18-yard box that beat the keeper low and to the right. The Panthers nearly leveled the score in the 88' when a cross found Papraniku's head but the ball grazed off the left post.

The Panthers finished the season with the 3rd best defense in Region XV only allowing 17 goals for the entire season. Irvin Baretto was phenomenal in goal throughout the season and earned a spot on the 2013 CUNY All-Star team. On the offensive end, the Panthers were led in scoring by Itamar Pereira who tallied five goals and two assists, Driton Selimanjin scored four goals and Ilir Papraniku scored four goal and had two assists. Pereira and Papraniku were also seleced for the 2013 CUNY All-Star Team for their great play.