Coming off a season where it lost in the Liberty League Championship game, the Ithaca College men’s soccer team has its hopes set high and is looking to redeem itself this year.

The team is on the rise, showing significant improvement between the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Bombers more than doubled their win count and goals per game between the two seasons. In addition, the Bombers were one game short of making the NCAA Division III men’s soccer tournament, which they have not competed in since 2019.

The Bombers can make it to the NCAA tournament in two ways: either by performing well in the regular season or by winning the Liberty League Championship Tournament. Every year, 64 teams are selected for the tournament. Last season, 41 teams entered the tournament as automatic qualifiers after winning in their leagues. The remaining teams are selected by the Division III Men’s Soccer Committee. 

Going into his third season, junior defender Jack Walker said he wants the team to make its way into the NCAA tournament.

“As a team, I think we want to really whoop on Cortland, Hobart [and] Hamilton,” Walker said. “Obviously win the Liberty League and then make a good run in the NCAA tournament. I think those are all goals that everyone can get behind.”

On top of team goals, Walker said he wants to have a big impact on the field this season.

“Personally, I just straight up want to be Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year,” Walker said. “I’d also like to score maybe two or three goals, get a couple assists coming out of the back.”

Head coach Garret Eldridge, going into his fifth season with the Bombers, said he feels this year’s squad can build upon last year’s impressive season.

“Obviously we reached the conference championship game in Liberty League last year and the Liberty League is one of the toughest conferences in the country, so we’re super excited about where we’re at and we feel like the [11] incoming players can add to an already really talented group,” Eldridge said. “We feel like we’re a team that can make the NCAA tournament and make a run.”

The South Hill squad lost 13 members from last season, but has 11 new players: seven first-year students, one sophomore and three junior transfer students who Eldridge spoke highly of.

“So, we actually got a division one, two and three transfer in the portal, which we’re excited about.” Eldridge said. “We think all those guys will add to depth in the roster and have a really good chance of making an immediate impact.”

Senior midfielder Landon Hellwig said relationship building is essential for the seven first-year students on the team.

“It’s extremely important,” Hellwig said. “Last year, I was a transfer and I had to come in and play and you never know who’s going to come in and play. So, you can’t disregard [first-year students] and say they are not going to play, because someone could get hurt and then they could be playing in the most important game of the season. You just got to be friends with everybody and just be nice to people.”

Last season, Hellwig played all 18 games and tied for the most goals in the season with junior forward Jared Krasnove. Hellwig had three goals off of 20 shots. He said this offseason he has been working on improving his goal conversion rate.

“I’ve just been working on my finishing and being able to be more clinical in the box and score more goals,” Hellwig said. “Last year I had a lot of shots I just wasted. … It was my first year playing attacker, so I was just kind of out there free balling it, going off instinct. And now I’ve been practicing my finishing and also just crossing. … We just need to create more goals.”

The South Hill squad returned many key players this season like Krasnove, junior midfielder captain Drew Warren, sophomore midfielder Gustav Bauerle, senior midfielder captain Connor Tierney and junior goalkeeper Johannes Berghahn.

The Bombers will have a majority of its Liberty League games toward the end of the season. Walker said the best way to make the NCAA tournament is to try to win every game possible, while also focusing on one opponent at a time.

“​​I think we need to just win the Liberty League,” Walker said. “That’d be huge for us. And then also win most of our out-of-conference games. So we play [SUNY] Cortland, Hamilton [College], [SUNY] Brockport, schools like that and then we play some not so great schools pretty early in the season. So if we can secure those games as W’s then that would be huge for us, but I think if we focus on those games and then once we get to Liberty League, really put the work in and just win the league straight up. I think that’s the best way to go about it.”

Eldridge said he wants to flip the switch this season.

“I’ve been here for five seasons, and we’ve lost in three championship games,” Eldridge said. “So I’m hopeful that this year is a chance for us to really get over that hump and make some noise in an NCAA tournament, because I think we’re built as a team that if we get in, we can win a bunch of rounds and so hopefully that’s this year.”

The Bombers lost their first match against the Eastern University Eagles 1–0 Aug. 31 in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. However, they bounced back against the Wilkes University Colonels as they won 5–0 Sept. 2 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

The Bombers will play their next match against the Alfred State College Pioneers Sept. 7 in Alfred, New York.

Preseason recap:

The men’s soccer team played three games — one against the University of Rochester Yellowjackets on Aug. 21, one against the St. John Fisher University Cardinals on Aug. 24 and one against the SUNY Canton Kangaroos on Aug. 25.

Against the Yellowjackets at Butterfield Stadium, junior forward Jared Krasnove and junior midfielder Drew Warren were each able to score goals. However, the Bombers also let up two goals to make the score a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation.

The Bombers were not able to find the back of the net against the Cardinals at Butterfield Stadium. The Cardinals were able to capitalize and scored one goal to win 1–0.

The Bombers were able to bounce back at the end of preseason against the Kangaroos, winning 8-0. The Bombers saw multiple first-year players show off their talents including first-year midfielder/forward Emmett Enriquez, who put his shifty skills on display and scored one goal. Krasnove was able to put two balls past the goalkeeper and sophomore forward Jack Carney — who made the team during Spring 2024 — also put two in the net. First-year forward Braden Delgado put one in the back of the net. The last two goals were scored by junior forward Andrew Kusek.

After the game against the Kangaroos, Delgado said the match was a testament to the work the team put in.

“It felt amazing,” Delgado said. “We needed a win. Preseason [has] been tough, but we really needed a win today. We put in the work and got the result.”

As a first-year student, Delgado said the upperclassmen on the team are a big factor in making them feel comfortable.

“It’s such a family,” Delgado said. “They’re all just so nice to us and they all bring us up. [If] we make mistakes, it’s whatever. They just tell us to move forward.”

Head coach Garret Eldridge said he is looking forward to the regular season.

“We had three different opponents throughout preseason,” Eldridge said. “We played a really good Rochester team and tied them and then obviously today, [I] was happy that we got some goals and got a lot of players in the game. We’re really excited about the year.”

Eldridge also said he was happy that the first-year players got some playing time.

“It’s great to see,” Eldridge said. “Obviously, we believe in all the guys that we bring in and the first-year guys were outstanding today, and we’re looking forward to what they can do for the year.”