After a 3–9–5 season last year, the Ithaca College men’s soccer team has made an impressive comeback with a current 6–5–3 record this season.
The Bombers have doubled their previous win count in 12 games and matched last season’s goal count of 11 in only eight games. With one regular season game remaining, the team has had an improved goal conversion rate, goal output and less allowed goals.
Graduate student defender and team captain Brendan Lebitsch, in his fifth season with the team, talked about the progress that the players have made. He said the sophomore class in particular has taken advantage of the offseason and getting in shape.
“When you come in as a [first-year student], you get a lifting plan and a running plan,” Lebitsch said. “But having that offseason workout with the team, you have a lot of guys gain a lot of weight and grow stronger. They have just had a season under their belt, so they’ve developed more and then we have spring ball. … Just a ton of player development and the guys really took that seriously this year, especially after last year.”
Senior defender Thaib Abidi reinforced Lebitsch’s statement, saying that the Bombers are a relatively young team, but growth in maturity has been evident over the past season. The team is made up of primarily first-year and sophomore students — with 19 in total — who are still getting used to the intercollegiate level of play.
“I would say a little bit more maturity,” Abidi said. “We’re still a very young team. We only have [12] upperclassmen in regards to fifth-years, seniors and juniors, and the rest are sophomore and first-years. … Sometimes it just takes a while for first-years and sophomores to kind of just get used to the level of play and the physicality.”
Head coach Garret Eldridge said he would not necessarily call this a turnaround season, as the Bombers have been known to be a powerhouse in the Liberty League in previous years. However, he believes that the team has been doing extremely well in certain aspects like training and preparing for games.
“We’ve been, in the five years I’ve been here, in the top 25 three out of those five years and I can’t say that we were distinctly different last year,” Eldridge said. “I certainly think a lot of breaks went against us last year. We lost six one-goal games and those are really tight and college soccer is really close. The things I think that we’re doing really well this year to win games [is] our training has been excellent.”
In addition to the training, Abidi noted that the team chemistry has drastically improved. He said that last year, not everyone was as connected with one another.
“Last year, it was rough, you know, going 3–9–5 with a losing record and having pretty strong losing streaks,” Abidi said. “That always brings a sense of negativity between some people, and sometimes blame gets thrown around. I think we’re just more connected as a team. There’s less outliers, there’s more people, and we kind of feel more like a family rather than a team of individuals.”
Senior midfielder Reefe Harrison said he shares Abidi’s view on the team’s improved chemistry. He said individual success does not matter as much, and as long as the team is winning and cooperating together, everyone is happy.
“The main difference between this year and last year is that everybody’s happy for everybody’s success,” Harrison said. “It doesn’t matter who scores the goal, everybody is just hyped that we scored a goal. Whereas last year, there might be guys who are like, ‘Man, I wish that was me.’ This year, it doesn’t matter.”
Lebitsch said everyone has a role in helping after practice. Previously, the team would have first-year students take responsibility for collecting practice equipment after each training session. However, this year, regardless of class and spot on the team, everyone helps and works together.
“I think this is one of the closest teams we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Lebitsch said. “We do everything together from on the field to off the field. Everyone has a role on the team for picking up balls and cones, so we’re not just making [first-year students] do stuff.”
Incoming first-year students have been a key to the Bombers’ success this season. This season, the South Hill squad has added 14 new faces — 12 being first-year students. The team has added players like first-year student defender Gustav Baurle and first-year student midfielder Colin Adams. Baurle has started 13 games and Adams has started 11 games. In addition, first-year student midfielder Jack Nelson has seen the field in 11 games this season while also scoring two goals. First-year student forward Leo Morris has played in eight games while starting in four games and has produced one goal this season.
In addition, the team has brought in two new junior transfer students — defenders Ikey Borden and Landon Hellwig. So far, Borden has played in all 14 games, while starting in six. Hellwig is leading the team in scoring, with three goals this season and has played in all 14 games, starting in 11.
Furthermore, the team has more than doubled their average goal output per game. Last season, the Bombers averaged 0.65 goals per game with 11 goals all season. This season, the team has averaged 1.43 goals a game with 20 goals so far. Abidi said he thinks this is in direct correlation to the new players on the team.
“I would say it’s the incoming people, the incoming teammates,” Abidi said. “[Hellwig is] great, he’s now our top goal scorer. … Adding those pieces and just collectively as a team working together has really helped us get into the final third and finish.”
The program has also seen major development and changes in coaching staff since last season. During the summer, the Bombers added assistant coach Nick Calo. Eldridge said that even with the short amount of time that Calo has been with the team, he has already been making big impacts.
“Nick has been a great addition,” Eldridge said. “We’re really excited about what he can offer on the field. I think he’s another guy that I trust to do a lot of coaching and training and he’s certainly done well with that. [He’s] also a guy that I’m excited to get out on the road with and continue to find really good players for the program.”
In addition, senior Ian Oltman, a former midfielder, has transitioned his role from a player to a student assistant coach because of injuries. Lebitsch said Oltman’s transition to the coaching staff has been incredibly impactful.
“It’s really good to have someone on staff who understands what it’s like to be a player and a coach in the program,” Lebitsch said. “He’s really good to kind of bridge that gap between the coaches and the players.”
Harrison said the team’s performance and overall meshing have complimented each other — the better his teammates feel, the better they play, and the better his teammates play, the better they feel.
“I think once we started to get some wins this year, that kind of boosted our confidence coming off of last season because, obviously, we didn’t finish very hot,” Harrison said.
Lebitsch also noted that the team’s confidence has been up this season. With one in-conference game left, the team still has the main goal of winning the Liberty League.
“With the caliber of players we have, we know we’re better than other teams,” Lebitsch said. “We’ve kind of just developed that attitude and we still go in every day with that chip on the shoulder. Yeah, we might be better, but we still have to dog it out and push the limits for 90 minutes, and still, the end goal is to win the league and everyone fully believes that we can do that.”
