The Geneseo men’s soccer team tried to overcome its loss to St. Lawrence University by striving to beat a winless Ithaca College on Sept. 13. They were not able to yield positive results, however, as the Knights scrapped out a 1-1 draw. “I expected it to be a close game, but I expected us to win,” head coach Dominic Oliveri said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
The Knights started the game being able to keep up with an invigorated Ithaca squad playing their home opener. Geneseo tallied six shots, netting one goal after junior defender Chris Kanaval scored his first of the season off a header from a perfect cross by senior midfielder Patrick Gunty.
With the lead at halftime, the Knights were unable to keep up their intensity and let a goal in as the second half started. Ithaca’s senior back Casey Williamson was able to score from an assist by junior back Jordan Filipowich. During the second half, the Knights could not recover and they were outshot by the Bombers eight to one. “I was disappointed. We were in the lead going into halftime,” Oliveri said. “With a team like that, I would think we could finish off the game but we didn’t. This was probably the first game out of our five where, for the majority, we just didn’t play well.”
When asked about what went wrong during the game, Oliveri said that the team did not start off with the right intensity and that they were unable to capitalize on improved play as the game continued. “I don’t think we were focused offensively at all,” he said.
Oliveri said that he does not want to dwell on the tie against Ithaca as he hopes to improve against Alfred University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
“It’s only one game––we played one bad game out of our five, so I will not look too much into it,” Oliveri said. “I want to continue to focus on this week. If there are concerns that develop over and over again, that will be something we will work on. But being only one game, I just want to move on.”