On homecoming and alumni weekend at Ithaca College, the men’s soccer team was unable to hold an early lead, losing to Empire 8 rival St. John Fisher College 2–1 yesterday.

The Bombers entered the contest looking to rebound from a disappointing two-game road trip the previous weekend in which the Bombers were winless.

Hoping to get back on track against a St. John Fisher squad, the Blue and Gold came out of the gates firing with an early goal. Senior forward Jeff South opened the scoring in the 27th minute off of a deflected shot by junior forward Fernando Casanova. South fired from point blank range as the ball found the back of the net.

Casanova said the Bombers must be able to do the little things right in order to have a chance at winning close games.

“There’s always things to improve on,” Casanova said. “Sometimes due to a missed settle or a bad header, there are certain opportunities that you never got because of that small mistake. If we clean up those small details, we’ll get even more goals.”

In the second half, the Cardinals knotted the game up in the 63rd minute and scored what was the game winning goal less than three minutes later in the 65th minute. St. John Fisher never looked back.

After two straight 3–0 victories against Marywood University and Alfred University two weeks ago, the Bombers are experiencing a dry spell on offense with only three goals in as many matches.

Assistant Coach Fernando Flaminio said that the team still has plenty of things to work on heading into the home stretch of its season.

“[There are] a lot of things to work on … there’s a lot of things to be accomplished,” Flaminio said. “We have to work a lot. Some kids have to come up to their A-game--they’re working on that.”

One of the players who has been struggling offensively for the Bombers is junior midfielder Jeff Geyer. Last season, Geyer scored five goals to go along with three assists. This year, he has only scored two goals and has no assists.

“Jeff Geyer is a good player all along and he’s starting to score,” Head Coach Andy Byrne said. “He scored a nice goal against Alfred. He’s been shooting pretty well all year, it just hasn’t gone in.”

The loss was the Bombers first defeat at Carp Wood Field this season as they fall to 1–2–1 in the Empire 8 and 4–4–3 overall.

The Bombers return to action at 4 p.m. Thursday at home when they host nationally ranked Hobart College.