Men's Soccer: Oct 19
Stevens 3, Elmira 0
The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s soccer team earned its sixth-straight win and pitched its fourth-straight shutout, improving to 11-1-1 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8 with a 3-0 win at Elmira Saturday.
The Ducks – nationally ranked No. 5 by the NSCAA and No. 6 by www.D3Soccer.com – have now clinched a sixth-straight berth to the Empire 8 Championship and currently have a 1.5-game lead over second place Ithaca College (2-1 Empire 8) in the standings.
Since its home loss to Houghton College back on September 21, Stevens has won six in a row, five via shutout. During the winning streak, the Ducks have tallied 17 goals, while only allowing one against in the first half of a 2-1 win at Wilkes University. Since then, Stevens has held the opposition scoreless over a full four matches, and the Ducks have not allowed a goal against in 411:53 of game time.
Stevens – currently 4-0 in the conference – has not dropped a regular season Empire 8 contest since it fell at Elmira by a 2-0 final back on October 17, 2009. The Ducks finished that ’09 season with four-straight wins and are 21-0-1 since that time.
As has been the case throughout the streak, the Ducks scored early, finding the game-winner with a marker from senior forward Stephen Dunbar. On the play, the veteran received a pass from senior midfielder Curtis Stecyk and beat the Elmira keeper after creating a one-on-one. It was sixth goal of the year for Dunbar and fourth assist for Stecyk.
The Ducks took a one-goal edge into the break, holding a 10-4 margin in shots.
Sophomore forward Carson Pryor continued his remarkable season, scoring and assisting on the final two Stevens tallies. He now has 13 points since October 2 (five matches). Pryor tallied unassisted, hammering home a loose ball from the top of the box, and then assisted Stecyk with a through-ball for his second goal of the season.
Stecyk and Pryor each finished with three points to lead Stevens. Senior goalkeeper Paul Killian earned the shutout - the team’s eighth of the season.
The Ducks finished with a 19-7 advantage in shots and a 5-4 margin in corners.
Ithaca 4, Utica 1 (Box Score)
The Ithaca College men's soccer team (3-8-0, 2-1-0 E8) defeated Utica Saturday afternoon, dominating the Pioneers by a score of 4-1 at Carp Wood Field.
Freshman
Sean Forward led the way with three goals for the Bombers, while sophomore
Blair Carney chipped in with one tally. Forward's offensive outburst marked the first hat trick for Ithaca since Kurt Odenbach recorded three goals in a 5-2 win over Coe on Sept. 24, 2006. Junior goalkeeper
Jordan Gentile was also fantastic in net for the Bombers, as he turned away 6-of-7 shots in the victory.
The Bombers got on the board early, with Forward scoring his first of the day on a feed from fellow freshman
Scott Halpern in the third minute. Ithaca added to the lead in the eighth minute, as Carney scored on a feed from a free kick by sophomore
Joseph Dobbins. Carney's goal marked his first of the season, and gave the Bombers a 2-0 advantage.
Utica attempted to rally in the second half, as the Pioneers cut Ithaca's lead to 2-1 with a goal in the 55th minute of play.
Forward regained the two-goal lead for the Bombers in the 78th minute, scoring his second of the game on a 2-on-1 feed from junior
Casey Williamson. Forward capped the scoring with his third tally of the day in the final two minutes of play, taking another feed from Halpern to give Ithaca the 4-1 win.
Nazareth 1, St. John FIsher 0
Senior
Jimmy Gaffney scored the game's lone goal in the 31st minute for visiting Nazareth Saturday and the Golden Flyers went on to take a 1-0 men's soccer victory over St. John Fisher at Growney Stadium.
The victory evened Nazareth's Empire 8 Conference record at 2-2 and improved the Golden Flyers to 5-8 overall. Fisher slipped to 4-7-2 overall and 2-3 in conference play. Nazareth's win also created a logjam in the conference standings with Nazareth and Utica tied for third place with 2-2 records. Elmira and St. John Fisher each stand at 2-3. Ithaca is in second place with a 2-1 record. Nazareth hosts the Bombers Saturday at 1 p.m. and closes out its regular season schedule with a home game against Alfred Nov. 2.
Gaffney's goal was his second of the season and came off an assist from senior
Jason Renfro. Nazareth had another good scoring opportunity in the second half, but a header by senior
Luke Elston in the 81st minute hit the goalpost.
Fisher had an 18-10 advantage in shots and freshman goalie
Nate Ripic had a career-high 11 saves for his first career shutout.
Houghton 3, Alfred 0
The freshman class continued its strong play, helping the Highlander men's soccer team to a 3-0 win over Alfred University on the road Saturday.
First-year players
Mitch Beattie (Maitland, Ontario, St. Mary Catholic) and
Landon Sheaffer(Richfield, PA, East Juniata) each scored, while freshman goalkeeper Jacob Dunnett earned the shutout in goal.
Beattie scored twice, getting game-winning goal in the 27th minute, and closing the scoring in the 62nd minute.
Paul Seddon (Wirral, England, Birkenhead Sixth Form) was credited with the assist on the first goal;
Jacob Merrill (Houghton, NY, Houghton Academy) assisted on the second.
Sheaffer contributed his team-leading 10th goal of the season in the 57th minute to give the Highlanders a two-goal cushion. The play was set up by a perfectly placed 40-yard free kick from
John Carpenter (Rochester, NY, Charles Finney) that fell right to Sheaffer in the box.
Dunnett stopped two shots in net for his 9th shutout of the season.
The Highlanders held a 30-11 advantage in shots over the Saxons (12-2 in shots of goal).