Maspeth, NY | For the third consecutive year, the BMCC Panthers took on the Queensborough Tigers for the CUNY Athletic Conference Championship. In each of the previous years, the Tigers managed to upset the regular season champions, but this year the Panthers flipped the script. Following a 2-1 conference record in the regular season, BMCC would come into the game as the underdogs, but once the opening whistle blew it would be all Panthers as they carved up the Tigers defense in a 4-0 victory.

The opening goal came in the 30^th minute when Karim Piottin-Ndiaye sent a free kick into the box that ricocheted off the keeper and landed in front of Daouda Coulibaly who placed it in for his first goal of the match. The Panthers would take a 1-0 lead into halftime after stifling the Tigers offense to keep them without a shot on goal in the first half. During the break, Head Coach Modou Seck message to the team was to not be content with a one goal lead, instead they needed to continue to attack and create scoring opportunities.

It did not take long for their scoring opportunity to arrive, a foul in the box in the 46^th minute led to a successful Coulibaly penalty kick attempt. After netting his second goal of the match, Coulibaly came off the field to a booming applause from the BMCC crowd. Not content with their two goal lead, the Panthers continued to play physically and attack the Tigers back line. A foul on the Tigers set the Panthers up for a free kick near midfield, team captain Peter Ceesay took the deep free kick and fired a shot that bent under the top bar. After BMCC scored their third goal, the QCC side began to unravel and would earn a red card for shoving a BMCC player after the whistle blew. Down to 10 men, the Tigers continued to play hard and recorded two shots on goal in the final 10 minutes, but they were easily handled by goalkeeper Dhondup Tharchen to protect his clean sheet. In the final minutes of play, a pass from Ceesay found Adama Coulibaly on a breakaway which the sophomore made one move to beat the keeper and find the back of the net.

After netting two goals and forcing numerous turnovers in the midfield, freshman Daouda Coulibaly was named Most Valuable Player. The Panthers will be looking to carry this momentum from the championship into the opening round of the Region 15 tournament that begins this weekend.