Despite having a difficult weekend of play, the Geneseo men’s soccer team finds themselves in the SUNYAC playoffs this year after barely missing the tournament last year.
The Knights face off against No. 3 seed, Buffalo State on Saturday Oct. 28 in Buffalo for the first round of the playoffs. Geneseo has the No. 6 and final seed in the SUNYAC playoffs and fell to Buffalo State earlier this year 1-0 on Sept. 22.
That game started with a Buffalo State goal in the first half and ended with that. Geneseo had a relatively sloppy offensive performance with only one shot on goal from sophomore goalkeeper Dillon Medd.
With a 8-7-2 record after their last regular season game against the St. John Fisher Cardinals on Wednesday Oct. 25, the crazy ride of this rollercoaster season has ceased to stop. The Knights defeated the Cardinals 1-0.
With the threat of playoff elimination looming over their heads, Geneseo hosted the SUNY Potsdam Bears on Friday Oct. 20. The Knights couldn’t seem to get any of their 31 shots past Potsdam goalie Jakeb Mitchell and fell to the Bears 1-0, inching them closer to elimination.
“After Friday’s game we were very stressed because we actually had 31 shots, 10 on goal, and couldn’t finish anything,” sophomore midfielder Junsei Ro said.
The Knights fell to the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals 1-0 just one day after their close loss to Potsdam. The Knights still managed to swing a playoff seed and will now focus their sights on Buffalo State.
“Thursday and Friday’s practice is going to set us up for the actual playoff game and we are going to work much harder in order to be ready,” Ro said.
Since this Saturday’s game will be an important one, the Knights intend to identify what to improve upon to win.
“During the regular season we didn’t have quality chances,” Ro said. “[Buffalo State’s] midfield is solid, their defense is solid. Their forwards can also finish their jobs; they scored one goal that turned out to be a big goal [in the regular season game]. We usually play better when we play a good team.”
The SUNYAC playoff bracket is set up similarly to most playoff brackets. The SUNY Cortland Red Dragons and the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons round out the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively.
The top two seeded teams receive first round byes, bringing them a whole game closer to the championship. The winner of the game between Geneseo and Buffalo State will face Oneonta, and go on to fight for the SUNYAC title.
Sophomore defender Caleb Murthy goes up for a header against a forward from the Nazareth Golden Flyers in a 1-0 victory on Oct. 3. The men have earned the No. 6 seed in the SUNYAC tournament, where they will play Buffalo State College in the SUNYAC quarterfinals on Saturday Oct. 28. (Annalee Bainnson/Photo Editor)