The men's soccer team continued their domination of the SUNYAC conference with two more wins this weekend as they improved to 8-0 in conference play and 10-3 overall.
The Knights rallied from behind to beat Oswego 2-1 on Friday and then shut out Cortland 2-0 on Saturday.
Geneseo excelled in the defensive end all weekend, with junior Sean Bardenett and freshman John Henning standing out.
"[Those] two guys in the defending role played very well," said coach Mike Mooney. "[They] did a great job of closing down the front runners for Oswego and Cortland."
Despite Geneseo's strong play, Oswego jumped out to the early lead Friday, as a turnover near midfield allowed an Oswego defender to set up teammate Chris Carra on a breakaway in the 25th minute. Carra gave Oswego a 1-0 lead heading into the half.
At halftime, coach Mooney abstained from any major changes and told the team to stick with the game plan: don't panic and the goals would come.
Fortunately, in the second half, they did. Junior Joe Mort evened the score at one in the 61st minute, beating the keeper on a penalty kick. Then, with just over four minutes remaining, junior Kurt Jameson guided home a corner kick by sophomore Yuta Shimizu, giving Geneseo the 2-1 lead and the win.
Despite their not showing up on the score sheet, Mooney cited senior midfielder Judah Manetta and sophomore midfielder Ben Ariola, who came off the bench in his first game back from knee surgery in September, as keys to the two wins.
On Saturday, the team showed no signs of a slow-down. Geneseo dominated play right from the kick-off. It was not long before they were able to convert on their chances. In the 29th minute, Mort scored his second goal of the weekend by bending a free kick around the wall and into the corner of the net, giving Geneseo the 1-0 lead.
Then, just three minutes later, senior Joe Walter accepted a pass from junior Jason Tartick, and converted the open opportunity to put the Knights up 2-0.
After that the defense took over, smothering every Cortland opportunity and igniting the Knights' offense.
Thanks to that defense, Geneseo was able to lead the time of possession, and take some pressure off senior Jeremy Reeves, who stopped all six shots he faced in the game for his second shutout of the season.
The Knights close out regular season play at Buffalo State on Saturday at 4 p.m. [Editor's note: Geneseo defeated Brockport on Wednesday, 1-0, to capture the regular season SUNYAC title. They improve to 9-0-0 in conference play this season.