The Ithaca College women’s soccer team fell 1-0 to the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers on Oct. 21 at Carp Wood Field. A miraculous goal from RIT junior midfielder Lindsay Ford less than 15 minutes into the game was enough to defeat a tough Bomber squad. The Bomber’s struggles in front of goals stuck out in a game where the team created an abundance of chances but were unable to score.
The South Hill squad had a chance to gain the rights to the sixth and final Liberty League playoff spot with a win over RIT. Instead, the Bombers now need two wins and a string of results to go their way to return to the conference tournament that they were crowned champions of just a year ago.
Each side came out of the gates with energy as always, with the Bombers making a couple of threatening runs down the left wing into the opposing box and the Tigers attempting to get comfortable in possession inside the IC half.
In RIT’s first dangerous attack of the match, sophomore forward and defender Eli Gonzalez moved the ball deep into the Bomber half down the left side before cutting the ball back to Ford. Controlling the ball with her right foot, Ford looked up to find herself with time and space to shoot. From about five yards outside of the box, Ford struck the ball with the inside of her right foot and watched the ball spin over the outstretched arms of the IC goalkeeper before dipping under the crossbar into the top right corner.
The goal put the momentum in the Tigers’ favor, moving the ball forward quickly and with ease whenever they gained possession in the 10 minutes that followed. Eventually, the Bombers found their footing and re-established themselves into the game with good pressing deep inside the opposing half, a tactic that provided most of the team’s chances in the first half of play when successful.
Junior forward Lilyana Baldi led from the front when it came to the team’s pressing.
After successfully taking the ball off of an RIT defender inside the opposing box, Baldi did not have much time to get a shot off. From the edge of the six-yard box, with the goalkeeper closing her down and a defender on her shoulder, the pressure was too much for Baldi to get an accurate shot off. Baldi sent the ball just over the crossbar despite a clean connection with the laces of her right foot, and another Bomber scoring chance sailed away.
The game’s second half began in a stalemate between the two sides, with no attacks posing much difficulty for each back line to deal with.
However, the Bombers held a majority of possession throughout the dry spell, and broke through the Tiger back line with 20 minutes left to play.
With her right foot, senior midfielder Kaelyn Fernandez played a beauty of a through ball toward the opposing box for senior defender Angela Cioffi to run on the end of. The Tiger goalkeeper bolted off of her line and her diving efforts forced Cioffi to take her shot first time, lifting the ball over the goalkeeper but wide and to the right of the goal.
With the Tiger defense now on ropes, the Bombers sent a cross into the box targeting Baldi, who stood isolated on the far side of the pack of players.
Baldi brought down the ball with her left foot, allowing the ball to take a tall bounce before connecting neatly on the volley with the laces of her right foot. The sidewinding attempt whistled through the box only to be met by a diving effort from the RIT goalkeeper to keep Baldi out of the back of the net.
The Bombers persisted in their task of netting a late second–half goal, but despite many touches inside the RIT box, they were unable to create any more clear goalscoring opportunities.
The Tigers flipped the switch in the game’s final minutes, keeping the ball as far as they could from their own net, giving the Bombers no more chances to advance the ball forward.
Although the Bombers fell to 4-5-4, head coach Mindy Quigg feels the team’s record does not tell the correct story.
“Our record doesn’t indicate how good of a team we are,” Quigg said. “You saw us moving the ball. We’re good. We’re creating more opportunities than everybody we play against … It’s just that composure piece in front of the net.”
The team has three games remaining on its schedule, all being Liberty League matchups. At the minimum, the Bombers will have to win two of those three contests to have a chance at earning a playoff spot. Quigg remains optimistic.
“I think we could be the team that causes a lot of trouble in that tournament if we can get into it,” Quigg said. “Coming into this game, I thought if we got two wins out of our next four, we’d make the tournament. I think we just have to take it one day at a time.”
Quigg’s team will continue their quest for the conference tournament when they travel to challenge the Clarkson University Golden Knights at 2 p.m. Oct. 25 in Potsdam, New York.
