300 Wins for Coach Byrne; Utica and Alfred Punch Tickets to E8 Playoffs
ITHACA 1, Nazareth 0 (OT)
The Ithaca College men's soccer team defeated Nazareth Saturday afternoon, dropping the Golden Flyers by a score of 1-0 in overtime at Carp Wood Field. The win marked the 300th victory for
Andy Byrne as head coach of the Bombers, giving him a record of 300-173-58 over 31 seasons on South Hill. Ithaca is now 5-7-3 overall in 2014, with a record of 5-1-1 in the conference.
Sophomore
Andrew Coburn scored the game-winning goal for the Bombers, while senior goalkeeper
Jordan Gentile stopped both shots he faced for his third shutout of the season. The Bombers generated 12 shots to Nazareth's seven, and both teams earned six corner kicks.
Tight defensive play marked the contest from the start, as neither team was able to score in the opening half of play. Both goalkeepers stood strong in the second half, once again keeping both teams off the board and sending the game to overtime at a scoreless draw.
Ithaca generated the only three shots in the bonus frame, eventually breaking through the Golden Flyer defense in the 98th minute of play. The Bombers were awarded a corner kick, sending junior
Joseph Dobbins in for the service. Dobbins placed a perfect cross in front, finding Coburn for the game-winning header. Coburn's goal marked the first of his career, and gave Ithaca the Empire 8 victory.
The Bombers paid tribute to their senior class before the contest, honoring
Max Bjork,
Brandon Glass,
Casey Williamson,
A.J. Wolfanger,
Liam Joy and Gentile in their final home game of the season.
UTICA 4, Alfred 1
The Utica College men's soccer team clinched the No. 3 seed in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament as it downed visiting Alfred University 4-1 in E8 action Saturday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
Freshman
Bita Gazashvili (Tiblisi, Georgia) and senior
Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) each had two goals, while
Matt Beljan (Bedminster, PA/Christopher Dock),
Raine Owens (Pine Plains, NY/Stissing Mt. ), and
Chris Stashko (Apalachin, NY/Apalachin) added one assist apiece. Utica got on the board early as Gazashvili found the back of the net just 4:15 into the game. The forward added another tally eight minutes later to give UC the 2-0 cushion. Alfred cut the lead in half in the 66th minute as Jeff Thomas netted his team-leading eighth of the season. However, Ruffing netted two goals in the final 15 minutes of play to put the game out of reach.
Alfred outshot the Pioneers 17-8 on the day and held a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks. Senior
David Abdou (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) made 10 saves in goal for Utica, while his counterpart, Chris Gutierrez, had two stops.
STEVENS 5, St. John Fisher 0
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's soccer team tied a season high with five goals Saturday in a 5-0 rout of St. John Fisher College.
The win ends Stevens' regular season at 12-3-1 while Fisher dropped to 4-12-1.
Both teams traded shots in the first five minutes before the Ducks offense took over control for the rest of the half. Junior
Carson Pryor and sophomore
Jay Mikula fired shots in the 14
th minute that were saved, followed by a shot from senior
Kevin Calloway in the 27
th minute that was also saved.
After junior
Colin Phillips unleashed one more shot in the 29
th minute that was saved, the Ducks broke though in minute 31.
Off a pass from recently subbed-in freshman
Jacob Ulasevich, Mikula beat Fisher's senior keeper Josh Klein for the score. The goal was the second of the year for Mikula while the assist was Ulasevich's second. While continuing to keep the pressure on, Stevens added to the lead six minutes later.
After beating the defense down the side of the field, Pryor fired a shot past a diving Klein for his team leading ninth goal of the year. The Ducks defense took over from there, shutting Fisher out of taking any more shots for the remainder of the half.
Stevens blanked the Cardinals in both shots on goal and corner kicks in the half while getting 10 shots on goal of their own.
Out of the break, Pryor quickly extended the lead to three with a goal in the 47
th minute off an assist from Phillips before freshman
Matt Perkins connected on his first career goal in the 70
th minute to make it 4-0. Between the goals, the Stevens offense unloaded five shots on Fisher's defense.
Phillips made it 5-0 in the 77
th minute off a pass from freshman
Keith Gillette to cap the Stevens scoring outburst as the defense did its part to shut down the Cardinals for the remainder of the game.
Sophomore goalie
Mike Renna made two saves in the win while junior
Colin Sawula made his first career save after taking over in the 71
st minute. The multi-goal game for Pryor was his third of the season.
HOUGHTON 4, ELMIRA 0
Houghton men's soccer got a key win that kept them alive for NCCAA postseason play as they knocked off Elmira, 4-0, at Burke Field.
The Highlanders started out sluggishly against the Soaring Eagles, failing to produce many dangerous scoring opportunities over the first 48 minutes. But once the attack started to click, the Highlanders would not be denied.
Landon Sheaffer opened the scoring in the 49th minute, taking a beautiful cross from Kevin Miranda and one-timing past the keeper. Shaeffer got on the board again in the 62nd minute as he sent a perfectly placed chip over the on-rushing keeper from 15 yards out. Twelve minutes later it was Miranda's turn as his own chip from the left corner of the box deflected off the keeper's hands and into the far corner of the goal.
Jesse Toth finished the scoring in the 74th minute. Tyler Inch played in a corner to Toth at the top of the box and the sophomore's low hard shot slipped through the keeper's hands, between his legs and rolled across the line.
Houghton finished with a 16-4 advantage in shots to give Jacob Dunnett his seventh shutout of the campaign.
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Stevens |
7-0 |
12-3-1 |
|
Ithaca |
5-1-1 |
5-7-3 |
|
Utica |
4-3 |
7-8-3 |
|
Alfred |
3-3-1 |
9-7-2 |
|
Nazareth |
3-4 |
5-12 |
|
Houghton |
2-3-2 |
8-8-2 |
|
St. John Fisher |
2-5 |
4-12-1 |
|
Elmira |
0-7 |
1-14-2 |