In the men’s soccer team’s penultimate match of its 2009 regular season campaign, the resilient Bombers defeated regionally ranked SUNY-Brockport 2–1 at Carp Wood Field in a non-conference matchup.

The Bombers set the tone early with a goal in the 6th minute by senior forward Jeff South on a header off of a corner kick by junior midfielder Jeff Geyer. Ithaca extended its lead in 56th minute when junior forward Fernando Casanova crossed the ball to senior forward Gerard Lewis at the left post. Lewis then fired a shot into the back of the net from point blank range.

The Golden Eagles, who refused to give up, promptly responded with a goal of their own less than four minutes later in the 60th minute.

Despite repeated attempts by Brockport to tie the game, the Bombers did not break, earning their first win against a ranked opponent this season.

While the match had no Empire 8 postseason implications for the Bombers, senior back Ata Movassaghi said winning a match like this heading into their final and decisive match of the season is significant.

“It’s huge for us just to kind of build momentum and get ready for this game against Elmira [College],” Movassaghi said. “We know that, right now, our fate is kind of not in our hands so we just gotta go out there and do what we can do and that’s win games.”

While the Bombers will use their momentum to propel them into Saturday’s critical matchup against Elmira, Head Coach Andy Byrne said the team still has work to do.

“[We’re] trying to change fields a little bit more,” Byrne said. “We can do that much better and keeping the ball on the floor. We popped the ball up in the air too much today. I’d like to see them work the ball a little bit more on the floor.”

Byrne decided to give junior goalkeeper Justin Parlapiano, who sat out the previous three contests, the starting nod for today’s contest. Parlapiano made three saves including a diving save in the 70th minute off of a header from point blank range that would have tied the game.

“It’s good to get back out there with the team, but more importantly we got a win today,” Parlapiano said.

Parlapiano started the first 11 games for the Bombers, but was replaced by sophomore goalkeeper Evan Kirshner who started the past three games for the Bombers. Byrne said that he has yet to decide who will start in goal Saturday, but he is leaning toward Kirshner.

The Bombers currently stand in fifth place in the Empire 8, one point behind fourth place Elmira. Facing elimination, the nine seniors on the roster must step up in what may be their final game in an Ithaca uniform, Movassaghi said.

“It will definitely give me an extra burst,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll be going all out on every single ball as well as all the other seniors. [There are] a ton of seniors on this team so we’re really amped up for this game and we just gotta hope that we take care of our business and everything else will kind of settle from there.”