The Ithaca College men’s soccer team faced the Hobart College Statesmen on Sept. 27. Valiant efforts were shown by both teams, however, the Bombers couldn’t find the net coming up short 2–0.
The game began with the Statesmen launching an offensive push onto the Bombers’ side of the field. Sophomore midfielder Brian Sheehan capitalized by placing his shot high and mid-center, resulting in a 1–0 score four minutes into play.
The Bombers struck back, getting two straight corner kicks in a row. First-year defender Gustav Bauerle got a shot on goal off one of them, however, his shot was blocked 8 minutes into play.
Despite the push, the Bombers couldn’t find their sense of motivation with the Statesmen getting six shots off within the next 22 minutes of play. The Statesmen were able to capitalize on one of them after first-year student midfielder La Zai Outerbridge scored in the 30th minute of play.
The only two significant things to happen for the remaining 15 minutes of the half was a yellow card on Statesmen’s junior forward Frederick Madsen. The deciding factor seemed to be the amount of opportunities the Statesmen had. At the end of the half, the Statesmen had 8 shots with 3 being on target. The Bombers only had 3 shots with none of them being on target.
The Bombers opened up the second half with a push, however, they were not able to score. Graduate student defender Alex Cabecaa took a shot, but it missed high right in the 52nd minute. The two teams continued to fight back and forth for the next 15 minutes.
In the 57th minute, Bombers’ graduate student defender Brendan Lebitsch picked up a yellow card which led to a penalty kick for the Statesmen. Sophomore midfielder Alex Daniels took the shot, but missed left. 10 minutes later, Sheehan was able to shoot a fast shot on target, however, Bombers’ senior goalie Ian Whitfield was able to make a diving right side save.
The rest of the game remained calm with the final score remaining 2–0. The loss moved the Bombers’ record to 3–2–2. After the game, Bauerle said that their next game is going to be tough like today. However, the team needs to stick to what has been working for them.
“We know [St. Lawrence] is going to come in like Hobart did today,” Bauerle said. “They are going to be strong. We gotta stick to our game plan more…we got to step up and play our game and beat them with our game.”
The Bombers will play their next match against St. Lawrence University at 4 p.m. Sept. 30 on Carp Wood Field.
