Ithaca, SJFC, Stevens and Utica Start League Play With Victories
ITHACA 3, Alfred 1
The Ithaca College men's soccer team defeated Alfred Saturday afternoon, dropping the Saxons by a score of 3-1 at Carp Wood Field. The win improves Ithaca's record to 1-3-1, with a record of 1-0-0 in the Empire 8.
Seniors
Casey Williamson,
Brandon Glass and sophomore
Jordan Filipowich each added a goal in the victory, while sophomore
Sean Forward secured two assists. Senior goalkeeper
Jordan Gentile made two saves on three Saxon shots for his first win of the season.
The Bombers scored the first goal of the contest at 28:34 to take the 1-0 lead. Williamson collected a deflected pass from Forward towards midfield, before converting on a breakaway for his second goal of the season.
Alfred got on the board in the 35th minute, tying the contest on a long shot that deflected off an Ithaca defender. The Saxons' goal marked the final tally of the half, sending the game to the break tied at 1-1.
The Bombers finally broke the stalemate in the 71st minute. After a block on a shot attempt from Forward, the ball deflected towards the far side of the box. Filipowich capitalized, taking possession and scoring his first of the year for the 2-1 advantage.
Glass added an insurance marker at 86:31, scoring on a rebound from shot taken by Filipowich on a partial breakaway. Glass' goal marked his first of the season, and secured Ithaca's 3-1 victory.
ST. JOHN FISHER 2, Elmira 0
The St. John Fisher College men's soccer team won its Empire 8 Conference opener 3-0 against visiting Elmira College on Saturday afternoon at Growney Stadium.
The Cardinals maintained possession from the get-go, as Elmira was limited to just one shot in the first half.
Freshman
Jake Gentile, who was starting in his first collegiate game after being called up from the JV squad, put Fisher on the board in the 22nd minute.
Mike Lynch, on the far left side, found Gentile, who volleyed the ball over Elmira's goalkeeper Jordan Dougherty.
Philip Brogan opened the scoring in the second half at the 68th-minute mark, giving Fisher a 2-0 lead.
Zach Hammond earned the assist, as he found Brogan on the far right side.
Terry Forrester's goal in the 89th minute sealed the win for the Cardinals, who improve to 2-5-1 overall.
All three scorers for Fisher tallied their first goals of the season.
Josh Klein made four saves in the full 90 minutes in goal.
STEVENS 2, Nazareth 0
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's soccer team connected on a pair of second half goals to lead them to a 2-0 win over Nazareth on Saturday afternoon.
The win moves the Stevens record over .500 for the first time this season at 4-3-0, while Nazareth dropped to 2-4-0.
The Ducks came out firing with shots from sophomore
Jay Mikula and junior
Colin Phillips in the fifth minute, but sophomore goalie Nate Ripic made the save on one before the second was blocked by Nazareth. Senior
Kevin Calloway followed up with a shot in the sixth minute that was again blocked before reaching the goal.
Stevens was able to get two more shots off in the 10
th and 12
th minutes to keep the pressure on, but both were saved to keep the game scoreless. Ripic made saves on two more Stevens shots from junior
Carson Pryor and junior
Joe Cellitti to send the game into the break tied at zero.
The Ducks defense continued its stellar play allowing only two shots on goal in the half.
The second half brought the same Stevens pressure with back-to-back shots in the 47
th minute from freshman
Patrick Boylan and sophomore
Patrick Masur before the Ducks finally broke through.
In the 75
th minute, Boylan delivered a pass across the box where sophomore
Chris Renna drilled it into the back of the net for his team-leading third goal of the season. The assist was Boylan's first of the year. The Ducks padded their lead in 81
st minute when Cellitti hammered home a goal off a pass from Mikula for his first score of the year.
The goal was enough for sophomore goalie
Mike Renna and the Ducks defense as they held the Golden Flyers to just one shot on goal the rest of the afternoon.
The shutout was Renna's second straight and third of the season.
UTICA 2, Houghton 1
The Utica College men's soccer team rallied from a 1-0 first half deficit, with two goals in the final 28:21 of play, to earn a pivotal 2-1 Empire 8 Conference victory over visiting Houghton College on Saturday night at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
Senior Shane Ruffing assisted on the first Pioneer goal to knot the score at 1-1 and he also added the game-winner in the 83rd minute to put the home team on top for good. The Pioneers snapped a four game winless streak and, more importantly, improved to 1-0 in the highly competitive Empire 8 Conference.
UC fell behind 1-0 in the 17th minute when Tyler Inch netted his second goal of the season, assisted by Carlos Peregrina, to give the visiting Highlanders the early lead. The 1-0 score held through halftime until the Pioneers made their late push.
UC tied the game up in the 62nd minute when freshman Bita Gazashvili sent a perfect ball in to Ruffing, and Ruffing sent a low pass across the goalie box right to the foot of the streaking Chris Stashko. Stashko connected on the right side and pounded the goal into the back of the net to tie the score at 1-1.
It appeared that the Pioneers might take the game into overtime for the third time this year until Gazashvili took the ball up the left side in the 83rd minute and found Ruffing in the middle of the box. Ruffing collected the pass, made two moves, and drilled the eventual game-winner into the upper right side of the net, much to the delight of the Pioneer faithful.
Gazashvili has a team-best four assists this season, and Ruffing leads the way with 15 points on seven goals and one assist.
UC goalie David Abdou stopped five shots in the victory and improved his goals against average to 1.19 on the season.