Both the men's and women's soccer teams struggled last weekend. The men lost 1-0 to visiting Plattsburgh in double-overtime on Friday, but defeated Potsdam 4-0 on Saturday. The women lost 2-0 at Plattsburgh on Friday and 1-0 in overtime at Potsdam on Saturday.
The men's team played a tight game against the Plattsburgh Cardinals on Friday. The Knights only managed three shots on goal and were unable to score on the Cardinals. Geneseo finished the game with four saves, but Plattsburgh managed to score in the 108th minute and take the win.
"It was awful losing in double overtime," said sophomore Jason Tartick. "But we will learn from that game and prevent a loss like that from occurring again." Senior Pat Occhiuto added, "We had a game we needed to win the next day so we had to put the overtime loss behind us quickly."
In Saturday's game, the Knights came out firing. They scored three times in the first half against the visiting Potsdam Bears. Sophomore Joe Mort opened the scoring with a goal in the sixth minute, assisted by sophomore Kurt Jameson. Tartick then scored in the 34th minute, assisted by freshman Ryan Stansfield. Stansfield scored four minutes later, this time assisted by Tartick.
"We moved the ball much better as a team and executed together," said Tartick.
Junior Adam McMahon was instrumental in the victory, accumulating five saves for the Knights. "Going into Saturday's game, I was feeling that this was the game that was going to make or break our season," he said. "We were either going to get out of our current slump, or this was going to be the game that effectively ended our hopes at a third SUNYAC title in four years."
Occhiuto praised the goalie's stalwart efforts. "McMahon made some key saves early on when the game was still close," he said. "Scoring four times is nice, but we pride ourselves on not giving up goals."
The men's record currently stands at 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the SUNYAC. The Knights have played well, but they are not the dominant team that they have been in recent years. "We certainly have our work cut out for us and we have not made the road easy for ourselves, but without a doubt we will be in contention for a third SUNYAC title at the end of the season," said McMahon. "We feel like we are as good as anybody in the conference and we have yet to play our best soccer," Occhiuto said.
Meanwhile, the women's team is struggling. They now have a 2-4-1 record and are 0-2-1 in the SUNYAC. Against Plattsburgh on Friday, freshman Katie Clerkin, filling in for senior Laura Castor, registered six saves but allowed two goals. Geneseo only mustered four shots on goal.
In Saturday's game, the Lady Knights took the Potsdam Bears into overtime, but eventually lost. The team managed 13 shots on goal but couldn't score, while Potsdam only had two shots on goal but scored on one of them.
"Potsdam was definitely frustrating," said senior Diane Long. "We dominated the play and just couldn't score a goal."
Castor remarked, "It was frustrating to watch that goal be scored in overtime It was a goal of sheer luck, and then that was the end of the game."
Like the men's team, the women face an uphill battle to reach the playoffs. "We basically need to win every single conference game for the rest of the season and maybe get lucky with other teams taking some losses," said Castor.