Bella Bastos
Senior forward Jared Krasnove and junior midfielder Liam Breslin crowd the goal in a 1-0 win over the SUNY Geneseo Knights on Sept. 6.
The Ithaca College men’s soccer team extended its win streak to three games on Sept. 6 in a scrappy 1-0 victory versus the SUNY Geneseo Knights. First-year midfielder Ryan Levy secured the win for the Bombers, scoring the game’s only goal with just three minutes of play remaining. The win closed out a three-game homestand for the team, making their record 3-0-0.
A windy fall afternoon at Carp Wood Field started off slow, with chances coming few and far between. The Bombers controlled the majority of possession in the opening 30 minutes, in a first half that saw plenty of slide-tackles and physical battles on the slick playing surface.
The South Hill squad’s first shot on target came early, on a long throw-in from junior midfielder Cameron Wooten. The ball flew out of the flipping Wooten’s hands, finding the head of graduate midfielder Ikey Borden, only to be denied by a good reaction save from the Geneseo sophomore goalkeeper Max Crothall.
The Bombers struggled to create any convincing attacks until a flurry of chances arrived just around the 32 minute mark. The biggest of these chances came on an incisive pass from the outside of the foot of first-year midfielder LJ Melucci. Melucci’s pass set up sophomore forward Emmett Enriquez one-on-one inside the box with the Knights’ goalkeeper. Enriquez took his shot first-time on the inside of his right foot, but the Bomber attack was once again thwarted by a save from Geneseo’s Crothall.
The Bombers went into halftime controlling the pace of play, but still desiring a goal.
The team began the second half with some sloppy play, which allowed the Knights to begin testing IC senior goalkeeper Bryson Shaull. A knuckleball-shot from outside of the box toward the bottom left corner of the Bombers’ net forced Shaull down and to his right, parrying the ball away for a corner-kick.
The save was the first of three on the afternoon for Shaull, a day where the IC goalkeeper stopped numerous Geneseo attacks with leaping cross claims and decisive saves.
“It’s such a mental battle,” Shaull said. “It’s a clean sheet that goes in my stat, but it’s just as much for everyone [who is ] not just in the back line.”
Shaull’s clean sheet against Geneseo was his third in three games this year.
The Bombers made up for their slower-than-anticipated start in the second half when they launched a quick counter attack in the 60th minute.
A driven pass from inside the Bombers half found the foot of junior midfielder Liam Breslin, who flashily flicked the ball forward with his first touch to set up first-year forward Emile Antoine for the team’s best scoring opportunity yet. Antoine, with only the Geneseo goalkeeper between him and the back of the net, sent the ball towards the top right corner with the inside of his right foot. The ball was met by the hand of the Knights’ goalkeeper, who redirected the ball just high enough to be met by the crossbar.
For the majority of the game’s remaining 20 minutes, it felt as if Antoine’s shot would be the last goalscoring opportunity that either side would be able to get their hands on.
That was until there were three minutes remaining, when senior defender Riley Donelan looked up to try and find a pass. From near the touchline and shallow in the opposing half, Donelan played a driven pass into the box with the laces of his boot. Levy brought down the ball with his right foot and calmly passed the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the net with the inside of his right foot. The Bombers’ bench poured out to the corner of the field to celebrate with their teammate.
“Every game I try to make the biggest impact I can,” Levy said. “It feels great.”
Levy’s dramatic late-winner was enough to put the Bombers just past the Knights, in a game that head coach Gabe Kuhn saw as very important.
“This was a character game against Geneseo,” Kuhn said. “They’re a really talented team. I’m confident in our group. I’m confident that we can hang with anybody.”
Levy, Shaull and Enriquez were the recipients of Kuhn’s “Hard Hat MVP” award for their outstanding performances in the hard-earned 1-0 victory.
“To get the goal where we did is huge,” Shaull said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the guys in front of me. … They dug their heels in and worked hard.”
The Bombers look to take their momentum from a special win to Dallas, Pennsylvania on Sept. 10 where they will travel to face off against the Misericordia University Cougars for their first away game of the 2025 season.