Alfred, Naz and Stevens Blank Competition; Ithaca Wins on the Road

10/4/2014 9:59:00 PM

NAZARETH 1, HOUGHTON 0
Graduate student Ryan Foley scored the only goal of the game with 20 minutes left in the second half Saturday to lift visiting Nazareth to a 1-0 victory over Houghton in an Empire 8 Conference men's soccer game at Burke Field.

The victory enabled the Golden Flyers to snap a six-game losing streak and boosted their overall record to 3-7. The Golden Flyers are 1-2 in E8 contests. Houghton slipped to 5-6 overall and 1-2 in the E8. The victory was Nazareth's first over the Highlanders in men's soccer since 1990 and the first since Houghton becae a member of the Empire 8.

The Highlanders had the better of the action in the first half with an 8-4 edge in shots and a 6-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Nazareth picked up the pace in the second half and finally broke through in the 71st minute as Foley scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season and 25th of his career. Foley had missed the last two games with a groin injury. Saturday's goal came about four minutes after a bid by Foley to break the scoreless deadlock was foiled by the goal post.

Sophomore Nate Ripic played all 90 minutes in goal for Nazareth and collected his second shutout of the season by making three saves.


STEVENS 2, UTICA 0
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's soccer team scored a pair of early goals in the first half to lead them to a 2-0 win over Utica College.
 
The win moves Stevens' record to 7-3-0 and while Utica dropped to 4-5-2.
 
Stevens jumped out to an early lead thanks to a pair of goals in the first ten minutes. Off a rebound in the fourth minute, sophomore Chris Renna blasted a shot to the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.
 
Shortly after in the eighth minute, junior Joe Cellitti made it 2-0 Stevens with a goal off a pass from junior Colin Phillips. From midfield, Phillips lofted a pass over the defense where Cellitti was able to run it down and beat the goalie one-on-one for the score. The goal was the third of the year for Cellitti.
 
Renna attempted to make it a three goal game with a blast in the 32^nd minute, but Utica senior goalie David Abdou made the save to keep the deficit at two. The offense was more than enough for sophomore goalie Mike Renna and the Ducks defense as they held Utica shot-less in the half.
 
Utica came out firing in the second half with a pair of shots from freshman Connor Reagan in the 53^rd minute, but one hit the post before the second was blocked by Stevens. Senior Shane Ruffing unloaded a shot in the 57^thminute, but the ball sailed wide left to keep the game at 2-0.
 
Stevens worked to keep possession the rest of the half, and fired shots off in 73^rd, 75^th, and 76^th minutes, but all three went high. The pair of first half goals proved to be plenty though, as the Ducks sailed through the half en route to the win.
 
The win was the fifth straight for Stevens as they recorded their fifth straight shutout.


ALFRED 1, ST. JOHN FISHER 0
The Saxons topped their Empire 8 rival, St. John Fisher, in a close 1-0 game Saturday evening to improve to 6-5-0 (Empire 8 2-1-0) on the season.
 
It was a back and forth game between the Saxons and the Cardinals Saturday evening, but one goal by way of Nicholas Milliman helped AU secure their second E8 victory of the year. 
 
As most of the game was played in the neutral third of the field, both teams were only able to put three shots total on goal throughout the game.  The first and only shot on goal of the game for SJFC came in the 4^th minute when Philip Brogan broke into the box but found no satisfaction when Matthew Unick parried the shot away.  Unick would finish the game with 1 save after playing the first half.
 
The first and only goal of the game came late in the second half when Omar Mohamed streaked down the sideline and ripped a scorching shot toward the net that went off the fingertips of SJFC keeper Josh Klein's hands and bounced in front of the net and Milliman lunged into the goal mouth to knock the ball over the end line into the net.
 
The second half saw more physical defensive play, with neither team giving up a shot on goal.  Chris Gutierrez finished the night in goal for the Saxons, not facing a single shot against him.   However, Fisher did not go down without a fight, mounting multiple offense attacks into the Saxon's defensive third, but came up empty-handed time and time again.  As the final horn blew, the Saxon's came out victorious, 1-0.



ITHACA 3, ELMIRA 1
The Ithaca College men's soccer team defeated Elmira Saturday afternoon, dropping the Soaring Eagles by a score of 3-1 at Campus Field. The win improves Ithaca's record to 2-5-2, with a mark of 2-1-0 in the Empire 8.
 
Senior Casey Williamson, sophomore Sean Forward and junior Joseph Dobbins all scored for the Bombers. Senior goalkeeper Jordan Gentile made four saves on five Elmira shots to earn his second win of the season. The Bombers dominated in shots, registering 23 to Elmira's nine. Ithaca also held the advantage with seven corner kicks, compared to Elmira's three.
 
Williamson got on the board first in the fifth minute of play to give Ithaca the 1-0 advantage. Williamson took the ball from sophomore Aziz Farouk on a through pass, before beating the Elmira keeper for his third goal of the season. Farouk's assist marked his first collegiate point. 
 
The Bombers scored again early in the second half to take a 2-0 lead. Forward took a feed from sophomore Brandon Thompson 18-yards out, and sent a shot to the right of the goalkeeper for the score. Forward's goal marked his third of the year, while Thompson's assist marked his first point as a Bomber.
 
Elmira responded with a goal in the 65th minute, chipping away at the Ithaca lead and putting the score at 2-1.
 
With just under 12 minutes to play, Dobbins scored an insurance goal for Ithaca. Dobbins' goal came on a pass from sophomore Alex Leone, marking the first point for both Bombers in 2014.
 
Elmira was unable to recover, giving Ithaca the 3-1 conference victory.