The men’s soccer team defeated the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers 1–0 Saturday at Carp Wood Field. It was the Bombers final home match of the season and senior midfielder and co-captain Jeff Geyer scored the game-winner, his second goal of the season.

On Sept. 4, the two Empire 8 opponents played to a 0–0 draw in regulation at Rochester in the Doug May Classic and the Tigers won 4–2 on penalty kicks.

The Bombers were scoreless until the 13th minute when Geyer headed in a well-timed shot off a pass from sophomore back Gabriel Saint Malo past freshman RIT goalkeeper Sean Conway.

“A goal in our last home game and on Senior Day is just pretty surreal,” Geyer said. “It’s just a great feeling, especially since we won.”

The Bombers put three shots on goal, with the other two coming from freshman forward Brennan Edmonds and sophomore forward Ben Lloyd. Lloyd registered two shots and freshman forward James Shankland, junior back Matt Anthony and sophomore forward Max Grigri also recorded shots,

Coming off of last Sunday’s 1-1 tie at St Lawrence, where he made a career high 14 saves and was named Empire 8 Goalie of the Week, senior goalkeeper Justin Parlapiano saved all four RIT shots on goal for his second individual shutout of the season and the Bombers’ third of the year.

Head Coach Andy Byrne said he was extremely pleased afterwards with the Bombers’ level of play and their refusal to give up the season, though he thought they could have done even better.

“I though we played really well, especially in the first half and we probably should have scored more than one goal,” Byrne said. “We probably could have made the game a lot easier for ourselves. The thing I’m probably the happiest about is that they’re continuing to fight hard. They’ve hung in there and focused on getting better and they’re getting better each game. It’s exciting to see them improve as they’ve gone along.”

After a 1–5–3 start to the season, the Bombers have gone 4–2–1 the rest of the way and remain in contention for a berth in the Empire 8 Championship Tournament.

“We’re just playing a lot harder and we’re just holding onto leads better,” Geyer said. “We’re working for our teammates and it’s more of a team focus. We just want to make the best of this season as much as we can.”

With the win, the Blue and Gold improve to 2–4 in Empire 8 play and 4–7–4 overall. The Bombers wrap up the regular season at 3 p.m. Saturday at Elmira College.